


Amicus Curiae

by Heleentje



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: F/F, Other, Post Dual Destinies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-13
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 09:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1043276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heleentje/pseuds/Heleentje
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was with great reluctance that the death of Ms. Cyan Sammons had even been ruled homicide. How could a trial even be held when there was no motive, no murder weapon, and the victim claimed to have been killed by a dragon, of all things? Why, by bringing in an expert witness, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a crossover with Yu-Gi-Oh GX, but primarily takes place in the Ace Attorney universe. I blame KENN for everything.
> 
> This fic will be using OCG card names throughout, as well as the Japanese names for the characters originating in the Yu-Gi-Oh universe.

_LOS ANGELES Paseo Del Mar was closed for traffic several hours yesterday morning after keen-eyed drivers spotted a body on the side of the road. The body, later identified as that of 36-year-old Cyan Sammons, showed signs of extensive trauma. Police are investigating the case. Detective Ema Skye, 27, stated that the Los Angeles Police Department is not investigating the possibility of murder._

_“It was an accident,” Skye told gathered members of the press. “Now let us do our job.”_

_Sammons, a scientist working for the Los Angeles branch of entertainment giant Industrial Illusions, was last seen leaving her home yesterday morning. Coworkers stated she never arrived at work._

_Paseo Del Mar has been reopened for traffic._

**March 7 2028, 6:23 AM**

**Los Angeles Police Department - Homicide Division**

Ema Skye was not having a good day—that summed up most of her days as of late, but this one was proving to be particularly taxing. She’d been up for almost a day now, with only a fifteen-minute nap somewhere around three, and her coffee had gone cold. Again. She was too tired even for proper caffeine intake and that, she reflected, had to be an absolute low in her career.

The file in front of her wasn’t providing her with any answers either. The first picture showed Cyan Sammons, an attractive, African-American woman who, judging by the slight wrinkles around her eyes, had seen one too many stressful days as well. The second picture showed Cyan Sammons again, but this time she had far bigger problems than a few wrinkles. Most of the right side of her body had disappeared. The resulting mess should have been far bloodier, but the picture showed a remarkable lack of blood. 

“And we’re sure she hasn’t just washed up on shore?” Ema asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Aya Ghanem, a bio-zoologist who’d come over just for this case, shook her head. 

“No signs of water damage,” she said. The bags under her eyes had grown more pronounced in the last hour. “And this wasn’t done by a shark. It’s way too big.” 

“Maybe it was a crane accident?” Ema suggested hopefully. She’d made her bed yesterday morning. The sheets should still smell of fabric softener. It sounded so enticing now.

“No can do. Those are _teeth marks_. An animal did this, but there’s no animal that can take out half a person in just one bite. We’re looking at something with a mouth that’s at least three feet wide.” 

Ema shuddered. She didn’t want to think of such a creature. She most definitely didn’t want to think of such a creature roaming the streets of Los Angeles. 

“A killer whale could’ve done it, but she hasn’t been anywhere near the ocean,” Aya said, as she slumped back in her chair. “I give up, Ema. It must’ve been an animal that did this, but there’s no animal on the planet that’s capable of this, let alone in Los Angeles. Short of asking Ms. Sammons herself, there’s no way we’ll ever know.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” Ema stared moodily at her cold coffee. She was out of Snackoos too, and the vending machines in the hallway would only be refilled on Friday. “Either we have an undiscovered animal here, or a very creative murderer.”

“Occam’s razor,” Aya muttered.

“What?” 

“Go for the easiest explanation.” 

Ema stretched her arms. “So, murder?” she said. It didn’t exactly make it easier for her. That meant she’d be dealing with a murder investigation instead of an accidental death, and that would mean court and trials and testifying.

“Yeah. I can’t think of any animal that could’ve done this, but I’m pretty sure there are enough people crazy enough to do it. What does the autopsy say?”

Ema recovered the relevant file from the stack on her desk, even though she already knew its contents by heart, and knew Aya did too. “No head trauma, no gunshot wounds, no foreign substances in the blood. Everything points at that bite thing being the cause of death.” She closed it with more violence than strictly necessary. “Right, I’m filing this as a murder investigation and then I’m going home and sleeping until tomorrow. Let the interns deal with it.”

“Good plan.” Aya got up slowly. “I’m going home. Don’t wake me up unless there’s another murder.”

“That’ll be the person I killed for waking me up.” Ema shared a tired grin with the zoologist and picked up all the evidence related to the case. “I’ll see you around. Here’s hoping we’ll get this solved without too much fuss.”

 

**March 7 2028, 4:39 PM**

**Chief Prosecutor’s Office**

“No. Absolutely not.” Miles Edgeworth said. The police officer on the other side of the room flinched.

“Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth—” 

“I refuse to assign a prosecutor for a murder trial if the police department is not even sure the victim was murdered. I expect a more thorough investigation.”

“Detective Skye said—”

Edgeworth sighed. “I’m sure Detective Skye has done everything she could, but I can’t start a murder trial with just this. What proof do we have that this wasn’t an accident?”

“I— Chairman Pegasus from Industrial Illusions contacted the police department earlier today and insisted that everything possible be done to find Ms. Sammons’ murderer.” 

“And so we’re obeying the wishes of the first millionaire who throws money our way. Yes, I see how the justice system is working just fine.”

The officer flinched and opened his mouth, undoubtedly to launch into the same tired explanation again, when the door to his office opened. Trucy Wright appeared, followed by a very harassed-looking Apollo Justice.

“Mr. Edgeworth, daddy wanted to know if you—” 

“I’m so sorry, prosecutor Edgeworth. I tried to stop her but—

Edgeworth closed his eyes. “Just a minute, Trucy. Tell your father the case files he’s looking for are in his mailbox and have been there since before the weekend.”

“That wasn’t what he—!” Trucy said, but Apollo ushered her out of the office before she could finish her sentence. Edgeworth could hear them arguing in the hallway.

“If you can come up with a stronger case than this, I’ll consider taking it to court,” he told the officer, who had been edging towards the door. “Not a second earlier.”

“But short of talking to the victim—”

“Not a second earlier.”

“Yes, Mr. Edgeworth.” The officer fled the room. Edgeworth followed him and peered around the door. 

“You can come in now.”

Trucy bounded into the office, but Apollo took a while to follow. Unlike Trucy, who’d made it a habit to pop in at the most unexpected moments, Edgeworth didn’t think he’d ever seen the junior lawyer in the prosecutor’s office before. Most definitely not in Edgeworth’s own office.

“Daddy actually already found the files, and he told me to tell you to have more faith in him,” Trucy said. Edgeworth raised an eyebrow. 

“That’s an improvement. What is it he wanted to know?”

“Mystic Maya and Pearls are arriving tonight. Do you want to come pick them up with us?”

Maya and Pearl Fey? He’d seen Pearl during Athena Cykes’ trial, but it had been a while since he’d seen Wright’s old assistant. Last he’d heard, Maya Fey’s duties as Master of the Kurain Channeling Tradition kept her firmly ensconced in Kurain.

“I’m afraid I’m busy, Trucy. I’ll try to come by the office when I have time.” He found himself genuinely regretting not being able to go. It had been several years since he’d last seen Maya Fey.

“Oh, too bad,” said Trucy. “Daddy said that she was bringing the art book for the tenth anniversary special of the Steel Samurai.” 

_Damn you, Wright._ “I’ll try to pass by when I have time,” Edgeworth repeated. “The police department is trying to get me to declare a trial.”

Apollo hadn’t been paying attention, but at the mention of a trial, his head snapped up.  “Trial? What about?” he asked, and belatedly added, “Prosecutor Edgeworth?”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Mr. Justice. There is no murder weapon, no defendant, no motive. The only reason it hasn’t been ruled as an accident yet is because the police department can’t figure out how Ms. Sammons died.”

“How did she die?” Apollo asked.

“The records say that she died of massive trauma and blood loss after being bitten by an animal.”

Apollo frowned. “So then what’s the problem? Ah, apart from Ms. Sammons being dead, of course, but-”

Edgeworth took pity on him. “There’s no animal in the world that could’ve taken out half a person with just one bite. That’s why the police suspects homicide.”

“ _Half a person_?” Apollo turned distinctly green, and Trucy covered her mouth. “How is that even possible? Who does such a thing?”

“Ah, so you do believe our culprit was human, Mr. Justice?” Edgeworth said. He smiled. “Unfortunately, we have no idea, and short of asking the late Ms. Sammons herself, I fear we have no proof.”

“We can do that!”

Edgeworth turned towards Trucy, belatedly realizing just what exactly he’d said. “Trucy, no.”

“Mystic Maya will be here tonight anyway, so we can ask her to channel Ms. Sammons, right? Then we can ask her what happened!”

“Such evidence will not be declared admissible in court,” Edgeworth said, rubbing his forehead. “Maya Fey knows that very well. Whatever we learn from channeling the victim won’t be reliable testimony.”

“What’s more reliable than the victim herself?” Trucy insisted. Edgeworth bit back his instinctual reply to that. His father hadn’t known. His father had been trying to protect him and his testimony had made the whole system untrustworthy.

“Maybe the victim didn’t know what happened either,” he tried, “maybe she was drugged.” _No traces of foreign substances found, “_ Or killed before that thing took a bite out of her.”

“But if that’s the case,” Apollo said. His face spoke of deep concentration and a determination Edgeworth did not like one bit, “then there should be an actual killer. Say… Say she was shot, and the bullet that killed her was in the missing half of her body. Then she could tell us who shot her, right? I mean,” he closed his eyes, “I think this might actually be a homicide, Mr. Edgeworth. If such a creature doesn’t exist, then there was something about that missing half of her body that counted as evidence. It’s up to us to find it, isn’t it?" 

If he’d had a desk, he would’ve slammed it. 

“So I can count on you taking this case when we find a culprit?” Edgeworth asked. Apollo stilled, his momentum broken.

“Eh?” He exchanged a look with Trucy. “I guess… If they’re innocent… But we shouldn’t be arresting innocent people.”

“Quite true.” Edgeworth absent-mindedly grabbed the files the officer had left behind. On the first page was a letter from the chairman of Industrial Illusions. The man had been the first to insist that a thorough investigation take place. But channeling Ms. Sammons? Surely that was a step too far. He might trust Maya Fey, but the Kurain channeling tradition had already made enough of a mess of the system. After they had finally gotten the public to trust the court system again, he was not in any hurry to jeopardize that.

“We could do it unofficially,” Trucy said. Her eyes had taken on the same determined look as Apollo’s earlier. “No one’d have to know, right? We just ask Mystic Maya this evening and if it’s not important, we can forget all about it.”

“Nothing I say is going to stop you, is it?”

Apollo looked away guiltily. Trucy had no such compunctions and cheerily replied, “Nope!” 

Like a dog who’d smelled prey, the lot of them. Edgeworth shook his head. “Do what you want,” he said. “If it’s important, I’m sure I’ll hear about it. Ema Skye has all the files you need.”

“Okay!” Trucy turned on her heels. She’d almost made it to the door when she looked back. “Oh, Mr. Edgeworth, are you coming with us to pick up Mystic Maya tonight or not?” 

Edgeworth looked at his deck, which wasn’t as cluttered as it could have been. If he really made an effort, he’d be done before seven. But he had no intention of sticking around while the Wrights held their little Ouija session. Nothing good had ever come from it. 

“I’m sorry, Trucy, I have too much work to do. Let me know what you find.”

If they found anything. He sincerely found himself hoping they wouldn’t. Ms. Sammons’ case was bad enough if it were just an accident. He had no intention of finding out what kind of person would be cruel enough to commit a murder like this.

 

**March 7 2028, 10:11 PM**

**Wright Anything Agency**

Maya screamed. 

Phoenix jumped up, as did Athena next to him. Pearl stopped them both with a wave of her hand.

“Happens sometimes,” she whispered.

Maya—or the spirit inhabiting her body—fell silent abruptly and looked around, her now-brown eyes wide and panicked. The crowded room, too small for all the people gathered inside it, definitely wasn’t helping the late Cyan Sammons calm down.

“Ms. Sammons?” Pearl asked.

“Where the hell am I?” The voice was Maya’s, but at the same time, it was lower, harsher. Even Maya’s face had become slightly sharper, the skin darker, with slight wrinkles around her eyes.

“You’re at the Wright Anything Agency,” Pearl replied, easily falling into her role as mediator. “My name is Pearl Fey. We wanted to ask you a few questions.”

Cyan Sammons studied Maya’s hands. “I’m dead, aren’t I?” she said.

“I am very sorry for you,” Pearl said. “We are trying to find out what happened. Currently you are being channeled by Mystic Maya Fey, the Master of the Kurain Channeling tradition.”

“So I’m a spirit now?” Cyan muttered. “Guess that’s not surprising.”

If only all people took the news of being dead so well, Phoenix reflected. It would make his job so much easier. Maya had quite readily agreed to channel Ms. Sammons, and Ema had even come over, after shouting at Apollo for waking her up. It had involved a few threats that Phoenix hadn’t caught, but Apollo had been very insistent on pouring his own drinks all evening.

“Do you remember what happened?” Phoenix asked. Cyan brushed a lock of Maya’s hair behind her ear and bit her lip.

“I left home to go to work,” she said slowly. “I know I made it a few blocks from home, but after that it’s all kind of a blur.”

Ema grabbed a handful of Snackoos and munched on them thoughtfully. “Did you go to Paseo Del Mar?” she asked. It came out muffled by the food in her mouth. Cyan Sammons looked briefly disgusted.

“No, why would I even go there? I stopped the car… Oh yeah! There was a dragon.”

Phoenix blinked. Once, then once more, and when Cyan Sammons did not seem inclined to offer any further information, he said, “A dragon.”

“Yes, it was… Yeah, Sapphire Dragon, I’m pretty sure. I didn’t work on the card art but it’s kind of an old one, isn’t it? Very recognizable.”

Phoenix glanced at Apollo, who was frowning at his bracelet as if its lack of activity was a personal insult. The magatama wasn’t picking up anything either. Cyan Sammons believed what she was saying.

“Ms. Sammons,” Ema picked up, in full detective mode now. “You worked for Industrial Illusions, which is a card game company, am I right? Do you mean that the dragon that killed you was one of their cards?”

“Yes, of course. It’s weird, though. I didn’t expect a Sapphire Dragon to be here on earth.”

_You expected it to be anything other than a piece of cardboard?_

“She can’t be serious,” Athena whispered. Cyan straightened up, her angry expression utterly out of place on Maya’s face.

“I am very serious, young lady. I know what killed me, and it was a Sapphire Dragon. I may not be able to see them myself, but I have been working with inter-dimensional technology for long enough to know about spirits.”

“Ms. Sammons, did the dragon have any reason to kill you?” Pearl asked. Behind her, Apollo choked and started coughing. Trucy absently patted him on the back.

“No, they’re peaceful creatures. Chairman Pegasus and Coral said they don’t attack unless threatened.” Cyan Sammons frowned. “I guess… But why would anyone want to kill me?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Ema said. “What do you remember about the location?”

Cyan Sammons bit her lip in reminiscence, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, it was dark. One minute I was in my car, the next, dragon.”

Pearl unfolded her legs. “Is there anything else you remember, Ms. Sammons? It could be important.”

“I’m sorry, I only know it was a Sapphire Dragon because I could see it shimmer. It was Longxin’s favorite card, actually.”

“Longxin?” Apollo asked.

“Longxin Huang, my lab partner. We used to argue about it.” Cyan Sammons smiled softly. “I always preferred Diamond Dragon.” Her smiled turned wistful. “I hope she’s okay.”

“I’m sure she is,” said Pearl. “We can check up on her for you, if you want.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Cyan Sammons said. “Well, if that’s all?”

“Yes, thank you.” Ema said. Pearl nodded and touched Maya’s hand. Immediately, a change came over her. Her eyes changed back to their normal color, and she took a deep breath.

“That’s still a bit weird,” Maya muttered. “Well? What’d you find out? What happened to her?”

Ema got up and dusted off her pants. “Pretty sure that was completely useless. Seriously, a dragon? Who’s gonna believe that? That’s so unscientific.”

Phoenix agreed. She had to have been in shock when she was killed, because there was no way a monster from a card game could ever come to life.

“She said it was a spirit, Mystic Maya,” Pearl said quickly.

Maya frowned. “Dead?”

“No, I don’t think so. Just a spirit.”

Ema looked at her bag of Snackoos, declared it empty with a disgusted sigh and got up. “I guess I’ll just tell the police to stop looking. There’s no way we can make a case out of that. Have you ever even heard of dragons?”

“No, wait.” Maya got up along with her. “She might be telling the truth.”

“My bracelet didn’t react, so maybe she thought she was, but…” Apollo trailed off.

Maya shook her head. She grinned. “Well-kept secret here, Polly. There are more spirits than just those of the dead.”

“There are?”

“Yep. But I’m not very familiar with them.” She bit her lip like Cyan Sammons had done. “Oh, I know! I’m just going to make a call. I should have someone who can tell you about them. I just hope he’s somewhere on the continent right now. Come on, Pearly!”

Maya  grabbed Pearl’s hand and dragged her into the hallway with her. “Be back in a minute!” she shouted over her shoulder. “Should have your witness here by tomorrow!”

“But there’s not even a trial,” Athena said.

“And there’s not gonna be,” said Ema.  She put on her coat, just as Phoenix’s phone started ringing. He fumbled with it and managed to press the answer button before the call went to voice mail.

“Phoenix Wright, defense attorne—”

_“Wright, it’s me.”_ Miles Edgeworth said.

“Edgeworth? It’s almost eleven, something wrong?”

On the other side of the line, Edgeworth sighed deeply. _“It’s the Sammons case. You can tell your protégés they’ve got a court appointment tomorrow. The police have made an arrest.”_

The room fell silent. “Really? Who?” Phoenix asked.

_“Longxin Huang. The victim’s former lab partner.”_

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay on this chapter and many thanks to modernpolymath for proofreading this!
> 
> For those who are interested, Huang Longxin's name is written 黄龙心.

**March 8 2028, 9:10 AM**

**District Court - Defendant Lobby n°2**

Longxin Huang looked far from comfortable. Her broad face had gained a certain pallor due to the night spent in the detention center, and it made her look far older than the 43 years her file indicated. The documents had gone on to say that she’d been born in Chongqing and had been working for the Shanghai branch of Industrial Illusions since 2007. She had transferred to California only two years ago. She looked like she used to smile a lot. She wasn’t smiling now.

“I swear I didn’t kill Cyan,” she whispered with a furtive glance at the bailiff. “I didn’t! She was such an amazing scientist. I was devastated when I heard she was dead!”

Apollo glanced at the clock. They’d be called in any minute now, and he had nothing to go on but an autopsy report, a defendant he didn’t even know was innocent, and a statement from the victim that probably wasn’t admissible in court and didn’t help him anyway.

_That should teach you to get involved in random cases, Apollo._

_“_ Mrs. Huang,” he said quickly, gesturing for Athena to come closer. “We don’t have a lot of time left, so I need you to be very honest with me. Did you kill Cyan Sammons?”

“No, I would never!”

“Were you in any way responsible for her death or involved with it?”

“No!”

Athena shook her head. “No noise,” she whispered. “I don’t think she’s lying.”

Apollo’s bracelet hadn’t reacted either. She was telling the truth. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or baffled at the incompetence of the police.

_When’s the last time they arrested the guilty party right away anyway?_

_“_ But what’s the motive?” Athena asked. “What grounds do the police even have to arrest Mrs. Huang? Just because she’s Ms. Sammons’ lab partner?”

Apollo grimaced. This whole case was just weird.

“Athena, Apollo!” came Pearl Fey’s voice from the other side of the room. She made her way through the crowd to them. “Mystic Maya found the person she was looking for.”

“Where is he?” asked Athena.

“He’s with the prosecutor,” Pearl said with a frown. “The one who really likes loud music?”

“Prosecutor Gavin?” At least someone shared his opinion on the Gavinners’ music. Between Trucy and Athena, Apollo had started to feel a distinct sense of betrayal. “I guess he’d like this kind of trial. Very… glamorous.”

“Could’ve been worse.” Athena grinned. “Could’ve been Payne.”

Apollo shuddered. Prosecutor Gavin wasn’t very likely to attack him or give him an ear-splitting headache, at least. Just a normal one.

“Court is starting!” the bailiff called. Mrs. Huang seemed to shrink as she was escorted away to the defendant’s stand. Apollo straightened up and took a deep breath. He hadn’t been able to investigate the murder scene, but if Prosecutor Gavin had received the news last night as well, at least he hadn’t been able to either.

“Cheer up, Apollo!” Athena told him. “She didn’t do it, so we’ll get through this!”

“Right.” _Believe in your client. Always believe in your client._

**March 8 2028, 9:27 AM**

**District Court - Courtroom n°2**

Ema’s testimony hadn’t taught them anything new. A tangent about killer whales had led them to the decision that, even if a killer whale had made it this close to the coast, it still hadn’t killed Ms. Sammons. The killer whales in the nearby aquariums had been dismissed as well, as, in Ema’s words: “There was no water damage anywhere. And no, she didn’t just dry up before we found her.”

“You think we should mention the channeling?” Athena whispered as Ema was making room for Mrs. Huang. “Does Prosecutor Gavin even know about that?”

“Let’s hold off for a bit. I still don’t quite believe her story. There must be some other explanation.” Preferably one that didn’t involve mythical creatures coming to life from a piece of cardboard.

“And could you tell us who you are?” Prosecutor Gavin asked. Mrs. Huang had taken the stand. She looked even worse than she had in the defendant’s lobby, but when she spoke, her voice was clear.

“My name is Huang Longxin,” she said. “I work for Industrial Illusions. I transferred here two years ago from Shanghai and have been working with Cyan ever since.”

“How would you describe your relationship with the victim?” Prosecutor Gavin asked.

“Cyan was my friend. We’ve been working on the same project since I came here.”

“She was quite a bit younger than you are, isn’t that right?” Apollo asked, eyes on the list of profiles he’d received.

“Does it matter?” Mrs. Huang narrowed her eyes. ”Cyan was incredibly motivated. We’d work five days a week, but I know she came in during weekends as well.”

“That’s quite the dedication,” the judge marveled. “What is it you and Ms. Sammons worked on?”

“Inter-dimensional physics.”

Silence in the courtroom. Athena’s baffled look told Apollo she had even less of an idea than he had.

“Why don’t you explain for our ignorant Herr Forehead over there?” Prosecutor Gavin asked. Apollo glared.

_You have no clue what she said either, you liar._

Mrs. Huang cast them all a long-suffering look. Now that she got to talk about her job, she looked far less nervous than she had just a few brief minutes ago. “Inter-dimensional physics deals with different universes, the way they influence each other, and how they connect. It’s a little-known but vital part of Industrial Illusion’s work.”

Prosecutor Gavin leaned forward. “You must excuse me, Mrs. Huang, but I find all of this to be quite… incredible.”

_Subtle, Gavin. Very subtle._ Then again, Apollo couldn’t blame him. First dragons, now other dimensions?

“The research is very precious to Chairman Pegasus. It is vital for the continued production of Duel Monsters.” Mrs. Huang was lecturing now. “Ask him yourself. We wouldn’t be developing any new cards without this research. We’ve even got specialists all over the world working on it.”

“This Duel Monsters… What exactly is it?” the judge asked.

“It is a… It’s a card game, Herr Judge,” Prosecutor Gavin replied before Mrs. Huang could. “Very popular, especially in Japan. I myself was unaware that it involved physics, however.”

Mrs. Huang shook her head. “Of course it involves physics. Cyan had made some incredible discoveries. We’d almost figured it out and—”

“Ah, I see.” 

Apollo didn’t like that tone one bit. He exchanged a look with Athena, who leaned forward to ask, “See what, exactly?”

“You must have noticed, Fräulein Cykes,” Prosecutor Gavin said, “that this trial isn’t what we’d call… conventional, _ja_?”

Athena narrowed her eyes. “There is no evidence our client even killed Ms. Sammons.”

Mrs. Huang seemed to shrink at those words. Prosecutor Gavin shook his head theatrically. “You are quite right, of course, Fräulein Cykes. We cannot say that Mrs. Huang was anywhere near the scene of the crime last Monday morning. But as she has so helpfully revealed to the court just now, she is the only one with a motive.”

Apollo slammed his hands down on the desk. “And what’s that supposed to be?”

“Do you need to have your ears checked, Herr Forehead? The defendant was quite clear on the matter.”

There was chatter in the courtroom. The judge straightened up. “I’m afraid I don’t follow either, Prosecutor Gavin. Please explain for the court.”

Prosecutor Gavin shook his head. “Very well. Mrs. Huang, you said Ms. Sammons had made a breakthrough, am I right?”

Mrs. Huang narrowed her eyes. “She had, yes. How is this relevant? I didn’t kill her.”

“And yet you explicitly credit Ms. Sammons for this breakthrough of hers. It is easy to understand, isn’t it? Ms. Sammons, seven years younger than you, a new hire at the company, and yet she was already outshining you after you had been the most prolific scientist in Shanghai? I can’t help but feel that any person in your situation would feel some… resentment, no?”

“OBJECTION!” Apollo shouted. “Your honor, this is pure conjecture!”

The judge slammed his gavel. “Sustained. I must agree with Mr. Justice, Prosecutor Gavin. While I have seen a great many crimes motivated by jealousy, that alone is not enough reason for me to pass a guilty verdict on Mrs. Huang.”

“The judge is on our side, Apollo!” Athena whispered. Apollo suppressed a grin. For one in his life the judge agreed with them. He was going to enjoy every second of it.

But Prosecutor Gavin just smirked at him from the other side of the courtroom. “Not so hasty, Herr Forehead,” he said. “Of course I am aware that, up until now, I have not presented this courtroom with any concrete proof. And as detective Skye so succinctly explained, there is no evidence linking Mrs. Huang to the scene of the crime. But I have something I think will prove quite convincing to the court.”

Apollo clenched his hands. He didn’t like the sound of that one bit. Knowing Prosecutor Gavin, they were going to lose their edge in just a few seconds.

“Don’t worry, Apollo,” Athena whispered. “Whatever he brings out, I’m sure we can handle it. Besides, Prosecutor Gavin wouldn’t present anything false, right?

That was true. For all that the prosecutor got on his nerves sometimes, at least such embarrassment didn’t compare to hawk attacks.

Prosecutor Gavin got out a sheet of paper. “I have here the testimony of a very special witness. While she could not be here with us today, the legitimacy of it has been attested to by, among others, Detective Skye.”

_Can’t be. Ema wouldn’t give that to him._

“Yesterday evening, Master Maya Fey of the Kurain Channeling Tradition channeled the victim and got her testimony.”

Uproar. The judge slammed his gavel.

“Prosecutor Gavin, the victim was channeled? How is it the court is not aware of this?”

“Ah, yes, the Fey clan has a special gift which allows him to serve as a medium for—”

“I am familiar with the Fey clan and their gifts, Prosecutor Gavin,” the judge said. Prosecutor Gavin looked momentarily taken aback. “Why was this evidence not presented earlier? It is rare that we have a chance to hear testimony from the victim herself.”

“Ah, yes.” Prosecutor Gavin fumbled with his sheet of paper. Apollo felt a momentary stab of sympathy. Sometimes the judge turned out to be far more astute than any of them expected. “The testimony took a while to be cleared by the Chief Prosecutor. While I did not witness the channeling myself, I’ve been informed that reliable witnesses were present.”

“Who would those witnesses be?” the judge asked. Athena slumped. Apollo was very tempted to do the same.

“The defense counsel, Herr Judge.”

The judge leveled them with a stare. Athena swallowed, but faced it head-on.

“Prosecutor Gavin is correct, Your Honor. Unfortunately, we were only alerted of the trial when it was too late to admit evidence of our own.”

“I see. Well then, Prosecutor Gavin?”

Prosecutor Gavin had recovered from his brief surprise and raised the paper with Cyan Sammons’ testimony. What followed came as no surprise to Apollo—he’d been there when Sammons had said the words herself, after all.

“Prosecutor Gavin really likes being dramatic, doesn’t he?” Athena whispered when the Prosecutor lowered his voice to recount Ms. Sammons’ encounter with the Sapphire Dragon.

“He shouldn’t hold out for any acting awards.”

“Don’t be mean, Apollo.”

_Everyone’s a critic._ Apollo sighed as Prosecutor Gavin finished acting out the testimony with a flourish. Silence fell in the courtroom once more. 

“Ms. Sammons… Claims to have been killed by a dragon?”

“It is an incredible story, Herr Judge, I agree. But I do feel it’s this court’s duty to give the victim’s words due consideration.”

“I have a bad feeling about this, Apollo,” Athena whispered. She was right. They should at least try to stop this argument.

“Prosecutor Gavin!” Apollo called out. “Are you seriously suggesting Ms. Sammons was actually killed by a dragon?”

“Whose word should be more trustworthy than those of the victim?”

_“_ Isn’t it far more plausible that Ms. Sammons was merely in shock and did not recall the events surrounding her death properly?”

The judge blinked. “Yes, it is very strange. Normally such outlandish theories are the trademark of the defense team.”

_Oh, thanks for the support, Your Honor._

Prosecutor Gavin was unfazed. “It is an extraordinary case, no doubt. But might I remind you of the project the victim and the defendant were working on? Inter-dimensional physics. Surely one so involved in this project could easily bring over a dragon to kill her victim? Mrs. Huang commanded a dragon from another world to kill Ms. Sammons, knowing that this case would never be taken seriously.”

“OBJECTION!” Athena and Apollo shouted together. “That’s just impossible!” Athena continued.

“But is it? I’d like to draw the court’s attention to a specific part of Ms. Sammons’ testimony. Ms. Sammons told us about the card preferences of her and Mrs. Huang, and while she preferred Diamond Dragon, she tells us that Mrs. Huang was very fond of the Sapphire Dragon card.” Prosecutor Gavin hit the wall behind him. “The very dragon that killed Ms. Sammons!”

“Ack!”

On the witness stand, Mrs. Huang looked almost in tears. “Well, yes, it was my childhood favorite,” she said. “But I swear! I wouldn’t kill Cyan!”

She was still telling the truth, and seeing her in tears was almost too much to bear. Apollo gritted his teeth. “The prosecution still hasn’t provided us with any proof that Ms. Sammons’ testimony is accurate! It is impossible for dragons to exist, let alone for Mrs. Huang to have summoned her favorite dragon to kill her lab partner!”

Mrs. Huang looked like she was about to interrupt. The judge shook his head.

“While I have seen a lot of strange events in my lifetime, I feel once more compelled to side with the defense on this matter, Prosecutor Gavin. Without proof that this murder was even possible the way Ms. Sammons described, I will declare a non-guilty verdict at this stage. I have seen no decisive evidence indicating Mrs. Huang’s guilt whatsoever.”

“We’re winning this one, Apollo!” Athena hissed, but Apollo was staring at Prosecutor Gavin. He looked wholly unconcerned. This fight was far from over.

“The prosecution has proof, Her Judge, in the form of a witness who will prove, incontrovertibly, that the murder could happen the way Ms. Sammons described,” Prosecutor Gavin said. Apollo swallowed. He’d been afraid of that.

“This is turning into a trial of little evidence and many witnesses,” the judge said. “Very well. Where is your witness?”

“He is in the prosecutor’s lobby, Herr Judge. I propose a short recess, so I can go over the facts with our witness.”

The judge frowned. “All right, Prosecutor Gavin. But if your witness does not shed new light on this case, I will declare this trial over. Court is in recess.”

 

**March 8 2028, 10:48 AM**

**District Court - Defendant Lobby n°2**

Mrs. Huang was still tearing up when they met her in the lobby. “I think it’s just hit me that Cyan’s really gone, you know? And I don’t even know what’s going to happen to the project if both Cyan and I are gone,” she said. “Maybe Coral could—”

“They will not find you guilty, Mrs. Huang. Apollo and I will make sure of it!” Athena said, loud enough for everyone else in the defendant lobby to hear. Apollo smiled. She’d been practicing.

“We’re going to be fine!” he added.

Mrs. Huang gave them a watery smile. “You’re good kids, you two. That Prosecutor didn’t really seem to know what he was doing, did he?”

Apollo’s smile disappeared. “No, he knows perfectly well what he’s doing. Prosecutor Gavin is far from stupid. What I want to know is who got Ms. Sammons’ testimony submitted in court. I thought Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth didn’t want her to be channeled.”

“Oh, Daddy did that!”

“Gah!” Apollo almost jumped. Trucy appeared from behind Mrs. Huang. “Trucy, at least let us know you’ll be here!”

“Don’t be such a wuss, Polly, I was in the gallery all the time with Pearls. It’s Mystic Maya’s witness Prosecutor Gavin is bringing in, you know!”

“Wait, really?” Athena asked. “Isn’t he supposed to be on our side, then?”

Trucy raised a thoughtful finger. “Yeah, I guess so. He can’t be that bad, right?”

“Did you say Mr. Wright had Ms. Sammons’ testimony admitted?”

“Yep! Daddy called Mr. Edgeworth this morning and said it was important. It is kinda important, isn’t it? Wow, I wish I could’ve met a dragon!”

“They’re quite scary, young lady,” Mrs. Huang said. “You don’t want to meet them.”

Apollo had the sinking feeling that case was about to get a whole lot more complicated. The judge might be on their side now, but if they couldn’t find another culprit, it would be very hard to get Mrs. Huang her non-guilty verdict.

“Oh, looks like they’re starting again!” Trucy said. Indeed, the audience was slowly trickling back into the courtroom. Apollo squared his shoulders.

“Let’s see what this mystery witness has in store.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Judai references the events of the Yu-Gi-Oh tenth anniversary movie in this chapter, so mild spoilers for that.

**March 8 2028, 11:00 AM**

**District Court - Courtroom n°2**

The man who’d taken the stand was clearly Japanese, somewhere between Ms. Sammons and Mrs. Huang in age, with brown hair and eyes that seemed to change color from a distance, but settled on brown when Apollo took a closer look. He was finishing a to-go cup of coffee when Prosecutor Gavin took his place.

“Court is back in session,” the judge announced. “Prosecutor Gavin, is this your witness?”

“Indeed.” Prosecutor Gavin smiled. “Let’s cut right to the chase, shall we?”

Apollo placed his hands flat on the table. “By all means, Prosecutor Gavin.”

“Witness, your name and profession, please?”

The witness finished his coffee and carefully placed the empty cup next to him on the ground. “Yuki Judai,” he said when he straightened back up. “Ah, profession? I travel. I help out wherever I can.”

“You do charity work?” Athena asked. Mr. Yuki frowned for a moment.

“I guess you could call it that, yeah.”

Apollo’s bracelet tightened. Mr. Yuki didn’t like the label of charity, but why wouldn’t he? This wasn’t going to be a straightforward testimony. At least he didn’t seem to be lying about the traveling part. His face was tanned and weathered, and while his jacket looked well-cared for, it had clearly seen better days.

“You are thirty-seven, am I correct?” Prosecutor Gavin continued. Mr. Yuki nodded.

“There’s something off about him,” Athena whispered.

_Of course there is. It’s Mr. Wright’s fault he’s here._

“And Mr. Yuki, you claim to know more about the murder?”

“I think I can wager a pretty good guess.”

The judge perked up. “That would be very helpful. We are _stumped_ on this matter.”

_Don’t tell the witnesses that,_ Apollo thought. He braced himself. Either there was going to be something very wrong with this testimony, or it was going to destroy their case.

“Let’s start with why you were called in, all right?” Prosecutor Gavin asked. Mr. Yuki grinned.

“I received a call yesterday afternoon from Maya Fey. She told me a case involving spirits had come up, and that she could use my help.”

“Maya Fey, head of the Fey family, correct?” Apollo asked. He already knew, of course. By now, surely everyone in the courtroom did, but he wanted to hear Mr. Yuki’s side of the story.

“Yep. We met shortly after she became Master, but I knew her mother before her. The Fey family has always entertained close bonds with the more spiritually-inclined of the world. Maya Fey believed this was my area of expertise.”

“Maya Fey is a famous spirit medium. What made her think you were better suited for the job?” Apollo asked. It came out as more of a rebuke than he’d intended, but Mr. Yuki smiled easily.

“The Fey clan only has expertise dealing with spirits of the dead. I’m better with other spirits.”

Apollo gritted his teeth. So this was why Prosecutor Gavin had brought him in. “Could you elaborate, please?” he asked, leaning forward.

“Oh,” Mr. Yuki said with a glance backwards. Apollo’s bracelet tightened.

“Hold it!” he shouted, focusing fully. Mr. Yuki looked puzzled, as did everyone else, because how could ‘oh,’ possibly be a lie? But there had to be something: his bracelet had never led him astray and Mr. Yuki was looking over his shoulder whenever he mentioned spirits. If he could prove he was lying, they’d get Mrs. Huang her not-guilty verdict and—

“Oh,” he said quietly. There was a monster. Behind Mr. Yuki. In court. It was huge, with enormous wings and eyes of two different colors, and Mr. Yuki didn’t seem at all threatened by it.

“Apollo?” Athena whispered. “Something wrong?”

“You can’t—?” he asked, but Athena gave no indication of being able to see the monster. It bent low over Mr. Yuki’s shoulder and whispered something that made Mr. Yuki look straight at him.

“Court is no place to sleep, Herr Forehead,” Prosecutor Gavin said, but even he sounded concerned. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the prosecutor also knew of his Perceive ability.

“It’s fine,” Mr. Yuki said with a nod to Apollo. “The defense is very perceptive. You were asking about spirits?”

Apollo nodded. The monster was still standing behind Mr. Yuki. It nodded when it saw him staring and put a clawed hand on Mr. Yuki’s shoulder. With his tightened focus, Apollo could see Mr. Yuki lean into the touch ever so slightly.

“The Fey clan deals exclusively with spirits of the dead. The spirits I work with are very much alive, but not normally visible in our world. Select people can see them, but most people never notice.”

“You said something about other worlds?” Athena interrupted. Apollo was grateful. He was still far too busy staring at the monster to come up with any meaningful questions. It didn’t make any move, but it was looking around court as if it expected a threat to appear any minute.

“Twelve in total, yes. Some of them have monster spirits. They’re usually solid in those worlds.”

Prosecutor Gavin smiled. “Mr. Yuki, you have been following the trial up to this point, _ja_?” he asked. “Am I right to assume that the Sapphire Dragon Ms. Sammons mentioned came from one of those other worlds?”

“Sapphire Dragon…” Mr. Yuki was frowning about something. The monster whispered in his ear, and he nodded. “There are definitely Sapphire Dragons in some of those worlds. I’ve never seen one on Earth, though. It’s kind of an old card.”

“How are those spirits and the game of Duel Monsters connected?” Prosecutor Gavin pressed on.

“Good question. I’m not entirely sure myself, but many spirits use the cards to manifest on Earth. They reside within the cards when they need a place to rest or just want to take a look around. They can’t fully manifest in this world, you know. They’re not tangible.”

“Hold it!” Apollo finally tore his eyes away from the monster. “They’re not tangible?”

“Not generally, no.”

“Apollo,” Athena whispered, “there’s noise.”

Apollo held up a hand. There was a lot that bothered him about Mr. Yuki, but if he played his cards right, this final bit of testimony could make their case.

“Prosecutor Gavin, am I correct when I say that Ms. Sammons claims to have been killed by a dragon?”

Prosecutor Gavin seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of joy from this case. He grinned at Apollo. “You were there yourself, Herr Forehead. I didn’t think your memory was that bad.”

“And yet, now, Mr. Yuki, an expert on spirits, has stated that these spirits are not tangible on Earth.” He pointed. Dramatically. “Meaning that it’s impossible for Ms. Sammons to have been killed by a dragon!”

Someone shouted in the courtroom. The monster’s head immediately snapped up and it folded a protective wing in front of Mr. Yuki. The original shout was followed by more commotion. Athena put her hands on her temples.

“I wish they wouldn’t be so loud,” she whispered. Apollo grimaced.

“ORDER!” The judge shouted. “Mr. Justice, please explain what this means.”

“It’s very simple, your honor. While the defense believes Mr. Yuki’s testimony and acknowledges that spirits exist—”

“We do?” Athena whispered.

_Either that or this job has finally driven me to hallucinations._ “—we stand by our original theory. Due to the shock of being murdered, Ms. Sammons misinterpreted the events. She was not killed by Sapphire Dragon or any supernatural creature whatsoever! Our client, Mrs. Huang, has nothing to do with the murder of Cyan Sammons!”

“Ugh, shut up,” Athena hissed when the audience broke out in renewed shouts. Mr. Yuki was watching the proceedings with a distinctly amused smile. And Prosecutor Gavin…

Prosecutor Gavin grinned.

“I must thank you, Herr Forehead. Have you considered a career as prosecutor, perhaps?”

Apollo slammed the desk hard enough for the pain to shoot up to his upper arms. He hid his wince by shouting. “What do you mean?”

“Your argument is that Ms. Sammons was in shock and thus hallucinated a dragon killing her. According to Mr. Yuki’s testimony, it’s impossible for a dragon to be physically present on earth. Therefore, Ms. Sammons’ killer must have been human. _Ist das richtig?_ ”

“ _Ja, stimmt,_ ” Athena replied.

“ _Danke._ And thank you, Herr Forehead, for so nicely disproving the existence of our mythical dragon. Which, of course, brings us to only one conclusion. I Ms. Sammons’ murderer was human, as you and Miss Cykes have just proven to the court, then that only leaves one person with a motive: your client, Mrs. Huang!”

“No!”

The judge nodded. “This might be your most convincing argument in this trial so far, Prosecutor Gavin. The lack of dragon does indeed make for a far more believable story.”

“He’s been setting us up all this time!” Athena hissed. Apollo clenched his fists. _And here I thought he was playing nice._

_“_ While I’m still not convinced that Mrs. Huang is indeed the guilty party, in light of the prosecution’s argument I can’t declare her innocent either. At this stage, the prosecution and defense both need more arguments to back up their case. We will resume trial tomorrow. Court is dismiss—”

“Actually, can I say something very quickly?”

All heads turned to Mr. Yuki. He was slouching on the stand, one hand under his chin.

“What is it, Mr. Yuki?”

“I think I caused some confusion, sorry for that.” He ran a hand through his hair. “The thing is, monster spirits can’t make themselves tangible in this world.”

Apollo had a sinking feeling. He didn’t know how their case could get worse, but he was sure that he was going to find out in just a few seconds.

“There are actually people who can, though,” Mr. Yuki continued. “Powerful psychics can manifest monster spirits here on Earth.”

More uproar. Apollo put a finger to his forehead. That was… actually not as bad for their case as he’d feared.

“If that’s true, that leaves room for another culprit besides Mrs. Huang!” Athena shouted. Apollo nodded vigorously.

“Mr. Yuki, do you keep tabs on any psychics in the United States?” he asked. That would be the fastest way to find any new suspects.

But Mr. Yuki looked down. “Ah, I’m sorry. I’ve only met a few of them very fleetingly.”

And Apollo’s bracelet tightened. Athena sucked in a breath.

“Apollo, there’s so much noise, I can barely keep track of it,” she whispered. “He’s lying. He knows far more than he’s letting on.”

“We’ve got to get it out of him,” Apollo whispered back. Prosecutor Gavin was staring at them, an inscrutable look on his face. Athena straightened up.

“With you permission, Your Honor,” she said, “it seems like Mr. Yuki has some things on his mind. I feel like I could provide him with some help.”

The monster spread its wings wide. Apollo took an involuntary step back. He was suddenly glad he was the only one able to see it.

“On my mind?” Mr. Yuki repeated. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“Miss Cykes, do you consider this important at this stage of the trial?” the judge asked. Athena nodded.

“Definitely. If we can clear up the doubts in Mr. Yuki’s mind, we might get another step closer to finding Ms. Sammons’ true murderer.”

“Prosecutor Gavin?”

“No objections, Herr Judge.” Prosecutor Gavin leaned forwards. “In fact, I haven’t had the honor of seeing Miss Cykes’ special brand of psychology in person yet. I quite look forward to a demonstration.”

The judge nodded. “All right, Miss Cykes. You may go ahead.”

Athena grinned and activated Widget. Mr. Yuki’s testimony appeared on the screen.

“Anything look odd to you?” Athena asked. Apollo frowned. Most of his statements didn’t seem to elicit any specific emotion, but there was one… Mr. Yuki felt angry about something.

“Here. Mr. Yuki, when you say you only met some psychics very fleetingly, why do you feel angry?”

Mr. Yuki’s eyes widened. “You know, I honestly didn’t think that’d still come through,” he said. “But it’s no big deal. I had an altercation with one such psychic duelist years ago. I must’ve been about Miss Cykes’ age at the time.”

“What happened?”

“He stole some things that were very precious to some good friends of mine.”

“And that person, where is he now?” Apollo asked. A thief could also be a murderer.

“Dead, sorry. He’s not the person you’re looking for.”

Athena updated the information. The noise level had gone down, but it was far from gone.

“Mr. Yuki?” she said. “It’s strange. You just told us that this person hurt your friends. And yet, when you say he’s dead, you feel sad. Why is that?”

Mr. Yuki looked astonished. “Wow, that thingy of yours is pretty powerful. Ah… I think I was sad at the time, yes… Because I met some pretty great people through that ordeal and we had to say goodbye afterwards. One of them I probably won’t ever see again.”

It sounded plausible enough, Apollo thought. At least, until he glanced at Athena’s screen.

“The noise level’s gone _up_?” he hissed. Athena looked from the screen to Mr. Yuki.

“He’s still hiding something. We’ll get it out.” She tapped the screen. “Mr. Yuki, why else were you sad?”

“I—what?”

The sadness marker was going out of control, and now the anger one had reappeared as well, but the surprise marker, the one that should’ve been blinking furiously right now….

“Mr. Yuki, you know very well what we’re talking about. Something about that encounter made you sad,” Apollo pressed. “Something beyond the reasons you’ve just given us. What is it?”

“You want me to stop them?” the monster asked loudly. Apollo sucked in a breath, but he clenched his fists. Monster or not, he was _not_ stopping here. Mr. Yuki looked distinctly disconcerted for the first time now.

“I… Wow, you kids are really good,” he said with a weak smile. “I suppose… I made mistakes. Could’ve prevented some harm.”

“You could’ve gone up against someone who, by your own words, could summon dragons?” Apollo asked.

“I did go up against him. But I might have been able to do it in a different way.”

That didn’t make sense. Mr. Yuki didn’t look weak, exactly, but he also didn’t look like the kind of person who could face any amount of serious damage and survive, let alone a dragon. Unless…

“Gotcha!” Apollo smiled. “I’ve got it. Mr. Yuki, you are psychic yourself, aren’t you? And if I’m right, you are more powerful than the person you faced.”

There was a collective gasp in the courtroom. Even Prosecutor Gavin looked briefly surprised, but Apollo didn’t focus on him. He was staring, not at Mr. Yuki, but the monster behind him. Its eyes were flashing furiously and its face was twisted in an ugly snarl. It was all the evidence Apollo needed. Judai Yuki was psychic, and for some reason, he’d been hiding it for the court.

“Mr. Justice,” Mr. Yuki said. His previous laid-back demeanor disappeared and in sharp contrast to the monster behind him, his eyes turned cold. “Miss Cykes. It’s very impressive what you’re doing, and for the purposes of this conversation, you are right.”

“So you—”

“I can summon monsters.” And then, with no further ado, his eyes glowed the same teal-orange of the large monster’s eyes, and a tiny creature appeared. It had a brown furry coat, with white, feathery wings and small green claws. It settled on Mr. Yuki’s head among the shouts in the courtroom, which should have made him look less intimidating, but didn’t. “I do believe this also aptly demonstrates the existence of spirits.”

“I…” Prosecutor Gavin looked at a loss for words. So did everyone else.

“It’s sufficient, Mr. Yuki,” Apollo said. Maybe seeing the huge monster had desensitized him to the shock of seeing a spirit in flesh and blood. The tiny brown monster looked positively adorable in comparison. “But there is one thing I don’t quite get. I’m sure you must have picked up our disbelief when it comes to the existence of those monster spirits, and yet you could’ve proven their existence to us the moment you entered the courtroom. Why did you not do so?”

“I didn’t want to cause any panic. It is a rather big revelation.”

It sounded reasonable, and yet—

“Lying,” Athena whispered. “Again.”

Prosecutor Gavin glanced at them and nodded. “Ah, Mr. Yuki, I’m afraid you underestimate the court. We are made of sterner stuff, I assure you.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Mr. Yuki said. The tiny monster chirped.

“Mr. Yuki, is that really the case?” Athena asked. “Were you really so concerned with our well-being?”

“You don’t think very highly of me, do you?” Mr. Yuki asked with a smile. It didn’t reach his eyes. The brown of his irises had taken on a distinct golden shine.

Athena stared at him. “You thinking what I’m thinking, Apollo?” she murmured. Apollo nodded. Maya had said something about him traveling, about not even being sure he was on the continent… It was a hunch, but he was going to run with it.

“Mr. Yuki, where were you the morning of March 6th?”

“Morning… Hold on, time zones.” He counted to ten on his fingers. “Ah yes, I was staying with a friend. I stayed at his house until Miss Fey contacted me yesterday.”

Athena picked up on his line of questioning. “And this friend, can he testify to your presence?”

Mr. Yuki shrugged. “Sure, I’m pretty sure.”

Athena turned to the judge. “Your Honor, the defense requests we confirm the alibi of Mr. Yuki at the time of the murder!”

“That seems a bit hasty, no?” Prosecutor Gavin said. “After all, Mr. Yuki’s testimony should be quite helpful for the defense. Did we not just confirm that your client didn’t summon any dragons?”

Apollo ignored him. “Mr. Yuki, can we please contact your friend?”

Mr. Yuki folded his arms. “Gonna be a bit hard, I’m afraid. He’s probably getting ready for bed by now. Johan’s siblings get cranky if you wake him up.”

Ready for bed… “Just a minute, Mr. Yuki. Where exactly does your friend live?”

The large monster shook its head, unseen to all save Apollo, but Mr. Yuki shrugged, resignedly amused. “Johan Andersen. He lives in Bergen.”

“Is that Bergen county in New Jersey, Mr. Yuki?” Athena asked. Apollo hadn’t been even aware of the existence of a Bergen, let alone one in New Jersey. “That must’ve been quite a hurried trip to get here in time.”

“Bergen, New Jersey?” Mr. Yuki had clearly never heard of the place either. “No, I meant Bergen, Norway.”

“N-NORWAY?”

The judge banged his gavel. “Mr. Yuki, you mean to tell us you were in Norway until yesterday evening?”

Mr. Yuki tilted his head. “Yesterday afternoon, technically, but yes.”

“But that is absolutely impossible!” Athena shouted. “I’ve made that trip! It takes almost a day to get here from Europe!”

“The Fräulein is correct,” Prosecutor Gavin said. “I’m familiar with the journey myself. I must admit to having my doubts that, even with the fastest plane available, you would have arrived here in less than twelve hours. A journey on such short notice would take considerably longer.”

“I didn’t exactly take a—” Mr. Yuki shrugged. “You can always ask Johan. I’ll give you his e-mail address.”

Apollo glanced at his bracelet. It wasn’t even reacting, the stupid thing, even when it clearly should. Athena was tapping away at Widget, but it seemed to have come down with the same problem. He took a deep breath. Prosecutor Gavin was staring at them.

“We doing this, Apollo?” Athena whispered.

“I think we have no choice. It’s the only thing that makes sense,” he whispered back. Judai Yuki had to be lying. That trip was physically impossible.

“Mr. Yuki!” he called. “I don’t know why you would tell the court such an obvious lie, but it can only lead me to one conclusion.”

Mr. Yuki raised his eyebrows. “That being?”

“I find it impossible to believe you were in Norway until last night. In fact, while your friend will undoubtedly corroborate your alibi, it is the defense’s opinion you were never in Norway to begin with. You were already in California when Miss Fey contacted you.”

“Then the defense’s opinion is wrong,” said Mr. Yuki. “But go ahead. This will be interesting.”

Apollo turned away from him. “Your Honor, Mr. Yuki’s testimony has made several things very clear. First of all, the existence of monster spirits that can’t ordinarily manifest in this world. Second of all, the existence of a small group of people who can make those spirits manifest. And third of all, the fact that Mr. Yuki is part of this small group of people himself.”

“Yes, that is correct,” the judge said. “What do you wish to say, Mr. Justice?”

Apollo glanced at Prosecutor Gavin, who had been suspiciously silent throughout his entire argument. He swallowed and continued.

“The evidence against our client is non-existent. She was only arrested because she had a—very flimsy—motive. And yet now we have here a witness who has the means to kill Ms. Sammons in the way she described in her own testimony. Moreover, it is clear he’s lying about his alibi for the murder.”

“Out with it, Herr Forehead,” Prosecutor Gavin said. Apollo took a deep breath.

“Your Honor, the defense accuses Judai Yuki of the murder of Cyan Sammons!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference:
> 
> The monster Apollo sees: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yubel  
> The monster Judai summons: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Winged_Kuriboh


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, the investigation starts, shenanigans happen, and people apparently can't stay in the place they're supposed to be.
> 
> I'm very sorry for the delay on this chapter! I hope you enjoy it anyway!

**March 08 2028 2:45 pm**

**Wright Anything Agency**

"Quite the trial this morning, you two," Mr. Wright said. Athena grinned.

"Pretty good, wasn't it?" she said. "Although Prosecutor Gavin was a bit mean there."

"Told you not to underestimate him," said Apollo. He was sitting on the sofa, one leg slung over the other. He closed his eyes. "At least now we know it probably wasn't Mrs. Huang."

"You believe it was Mr. Yuki?" Mr. Wright asked. The question was carefully neutral. Athena didn't really want to be the one to answer it, but Apollo didn't look like he was going to.

"He still hasn't told us the whole truth. The noise level never went down to zero. He's definitely hiding something."

"And yet Maya trusts him, you know," Mr. Wright pondered. "She was pretty upset that you two accused him. Ranted at me about him and everything."

Athena felt a stab of guilt. They were accusing a good friend of Miss Maya, after all. Could they really say he was guilty? But nothing about his testimony added up.

"Be as that may," Apollo cut through her thoughts, "he's far more suspicious than Mrs. Huang ever was. He actually has the means to kill Ms. Sammons the way she described and he definitely knows more than he's letting on."

Mr. Wright hummed. "You're very sure Mrs. Huang didn't do it."

"She couldn't possibly have summoned a dragon."

"Ah, yes. And how do you know she isn't one of those psychics Mr. Yuki talked about?"

Apollo stilled, as did Athena. "We never asked that. We never got the chance to have her testify again."

Mr. Wright reclined in his seat. "Then maybe you should start there, huh? The detention center is open for another three hours."

"Yes, all right." Apollo got up and grabbed his jacket. "I want to talk to Mr. Yuki anyway. You coming, Athena?"

Athena followed him into the hallway and down the stairs, but when they reached the parking lot, Apollo stopped.

"You know," he said, "Mr. Wright is, well, right." He unlocked his car from a distance. "But I think we should go to Paseo Del Mar first. We haven't been able to investigate anything yet."

"Sure, but why?" Paseo Del Mar wouldn't be going anywhere, while the detention center wouldn't let them in if they arrived too late.

"I want to talk to some other people first. Something about this case has been bothering me. We didn't ask if Mrs. Huang was psychic, and we should've, but we had Mr. Yuki's testimony to deal with and I'll admit I was distracted." He fell silent for a few seconds. "But why didn't Prosecutor Gavin ask?"

Ah. "Maybe he forgot?"

"Trust me, he wouldn't."

"Then it benefited his case more if there wasn't a dragon," Athena decided. After all, Prosecutor Gavin had all but said as much.

"No, no, that's not it either…" Sighing, Apollo made his way over to his car. Athena followed. "It would've made her look suspicious either way. And Prosecutor Gavin isn't the type to hide evidence or testimony."

"You trust him a lot."

Apollo smiled reluctantly. "He can be a complete pain and his music's awful, but yeah, I guess. You can be pretty sure you've got the actual culprit at the end of the day if he's prosecuting." His smile turned bitter. "For better or for worse."

Athena had, while still in Europe, heard about the Misham trial. It had caused great upset in the three-day-trial system, and back then, she'd been very interested in studying it. At the time, Kristoph Gavin had been just another name. A famous lawyer, sure, but not one she'd ever been too concerned about. Now knowing that both Apollo and Prosecutor Gavin had been on the Misham trial, she couldn't help but wonder how both of them were dealing.

"You think he'll be at Paseo Del Mar?" she asked for a change of subject. "Not the Prosecutor's office?"

Apollo shrugged and got into his car. Athena did the same. "We need to go check out Paseo Del Mar anyway. Might as well go there first."

"You think Mr. Yuki did it?" she asked when Apollo pulled out of the parking lot. He didn't answer until they were out on the road.

"Right now? There's no way he was in Norway until last night. I don't see why he would even tell us that, though. He should know we'd see right through such an obvious lie."

Widget had shown… nothing specific when Mr. Yuki had talked about his friend in Norway. Happiness, which had been expected. Little else. No anger or surprise, nothing that indicated that he had been lying in the slightest. She told Apollo as much.

"Yeah, my bracelet didn't react either. But he has to be lying, right?" Apollo took a sharp turn left. "It's impossible."

"You think it's a psychic thing?"

"What, cross two continents and an ocean in less than half a day?" Apollo started to laugh, then paused and glanced at her. "You know? The worst part is that we've probably seen weirder. After the dragons, that doesn't even sound implausible anymore."

"I worry about our lives sometimes."

"Tell me about it."

They fell silent. Apollo grew more distracted as he neared Paseo Del Mar, the same weird agitation she'd felt coming from him in court now resurfacing again. He'd been out of it in court, not enough to jeopardize their case, but Mr. Yuki's testimony had left him on edge. Even the appearance of the tiny brown spirit hadn't shocked him as much as it had the rest of them.

"What had you so distracted today?"

"Huh?" Apollo slammed the brakes for a stop sign. Athena winced as the seatbelt locked up and cut into her shoulder. "Distracted?"

_Like that, yes._ "You seemed a bit out of it."

"Ah, yeah." Apollo didn't elaborate.

"Well?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll tell you when I figure it out," Apollo said. He pulled over abruptly. "We're here anyway."

_Saved by the bell, buddy. But I'll get it out of you somehow._

The side of the road was still littered with police tape, but now, two days after the murder, only a few lonely agents were stationed to guard the place. They glanced at the two of them suspiciously, but their guard duty had left them in no mood to argue. For once, those attorney badges seemed to be good for something.

"So this is where Ms. Sammons was murdered," Apollo pondered. The spot, outlined with more police tape, looked as innocuous as it got.

"It's funny," one of the agents said. She walked over to them. "No blood, no tracks, nothing. But I'm sure you already know that."

"The crime photo didn't really give us a good idea," Athena replied. "It's helpful to see it in person."

"You'd think she appeared here out of thin air," the agent continued. "Clever murderer. But I guess she was killed by a scientist."

"Mrs. Huang is innocent," Athena bit out. The agent shrugged.

"If I had a dollar for every lawyer who ever told me that, I wouldn't be standing here doing guard duty for a patch of grass."

For that, Athena had no reply she was willing to utter in front of the police. Instead, she looked back to Apollo, who'd bent down low and was studying the grass.

"You know, I don't think she was killed here," she said. It was practically the only thing that made sense.

"Mmm?"

"Almost no blood, despite the fact that she's missing half her body. No tracks apart from the imprint of the body. No reason for her to come here."

"Fräulein Cykes is right," Prosecutor Gavin said. Apollo shot up so fast he almost hit Athena.

"When d'you get here?"

"And here I thought you were so perceptive." Prosecutor Gavin grinned, but quickly grew serious again. "I thought you'd be interested in hearing that Ms. Sammons' car was found three blocks away from her apartment, in a parking lot."

The new information was enough to placate Apollo. "Did she have to pass by this street to get to work?" he asked. Prosecutor Gavin shook his head.

"No, Industrial Illusion's buildings are on the other side of town. She was headed into work. She had no reason to be here." The Prosecutor looked around. The few police agents had wandered closer. He gave them a cheerful wave. "Take five, guys! I can handle it here for the moment."

It said a lot about their mood that none of them even tried to argue. The Prosecutor gestured them closer.

"So you're saying she was killed elsewhere?" Athena asked. "But why are you telling us, Prosecutor Gavin?"

"Okay, first off, we're not in court, call me Klavier. Second, candid moment here," he glanced over his shoulder. The police agents had well and truly gone. "Look, we all know that the odds of Longxin Huang killing her are close to zero."

"You do?" Apollo cut in.

"Keep up, Herr Forehead, of course we do. As far as we know there's no reason for her to have committed the crime and no way she could've either."

"So did Judai Yuki do it, then?"

Klavier sighed. "You know, I was on board with your idea this morning, but we had his alibi investigated. He  _was_ in Norway until yesterday evening. His friend confirmed it and there's even camera footage of the two of them in a nearby grocery store."

"That makes no sense whatsoever."

Klavier laughed. "Don't I know it?" he said. "But it's true. And what's more, the chairman of Industrial Illusions himself is vouching for him. The guy's got connections in high-up places."

"Just met him a couple times when I was still in high school. Johan knows him better than I do."

They whirled around. Judai Yuki was standing behind them, grinning the same grin he had in court. Very much alone.

"What?" Apollo shouted. He and Klavier stepped back, in front of Athena. Athena muscled her way past them and for a moment they all struggled to decide who was trying to defend whom. Judai Yuki watched it all with amused eyes.

"Calm down, I'm not here to hurt anyone."

Athena saw Apollo's eyes shoot up to a point about a foot above Mr. Yuki's head. He shook his head in disbelief.

"You'll excuse us if we find your presence here… suspicious, Herr Yuki," Klavier said with feigned lightness. Mr. Yuki sighed.

"Yeah, sorry about that, but I really didn't need the company and Yubel wasn't exactly happy that you tried to lock me up." He tilted his head. "You know, they'll probably start looking for me in about five minutes."

"You did not get here from the detention center in less time than it took for them to notice you disappeared," Athena stated. Sure, maybe the guy could summon monsters, but like hell was she going to let him intimidate her.

"Just a little trick of mine. Don't worry about it." He sat down and turned his palms upwards. "See, no weapons."

"Pardon me if I don't exactly believe that, Mr. Yuki," Apollo said. He was still staring at something next to Mr. Yuki, something that, now that Athena thought about it, he'd also been staring at for most of the morning's trial.

"Apollo, was it? First time seeing a monster spirit?"

"I don't know what you mean," Apollo replied. The last time Athena'd heard that coldness in his voice was when Clay Terran had been murdered. It still sent chills down her spine, even now.

But Mr. Yuki was unaffected. "Sure you do. That's Yubel, by the way. My partner. But I don't think she wants to show herself now. Sorry for the scare in court."

"You can see those spirits?" Athena hissed. Apollo grimaced. That did explain the staring, and why he'd been so fast to accept their existence this morning.

"Did your partner help you escape the detention center, then?" Apollo asked.

"Yubel? Oh, no." Mr. Yuki crossed his arms and tilted his head. "Of course, she could've, but then there would've been a lot more collateral damage. I don't really fancy going back, though, in case you were wondering. I just wanted to do some investigating of my own."

"How did you get out of the detention center?" Athena asked again.

"I teleported. Now hush."

_Teleport-_ Apollo mouthed in disbelief. Mr. Yuki patted the ground on his left, then on the other side, then got up again, walked around the three of them, and crouched down next to the spot where Ms. Sammons had been found. Klavier got out his phone and pressed a few keys, then casually followed him.

"Prosecutor-" Apollo hissed. Athena hurried after him. He'd get himself killed doing stupid things like this.

"So, Mr. Yuki," Klavier said loudly. "You teleported out of the detention center? How does that work?"

"Just a thing I do." He got up and turned around. Athena grabbed Klavier's arm and started dragging him back, but he pulled himself loose.

"Hold on, Fräulein," he muttered, and turned the screen of his phone up to her. A call was in progress.

_Oh, clever._ She let go of his arm and waved Apollo over. "So, Mr. Yuki, did you know Ms. Sammons?" she asked loudly.

"No. Didn't kill her either, if that's what you're asking." He raised one hand, back turned towards them. "Yeah, I was afraid of that."

Apollo hurried over. "What the hell are you guys doing?" he hissed. "Let's get out of here while we still can."

"911," Athena mouthed, nodding her head at Klavier's phone. "Keep him talking."

"Afraid of what?" Klavier asked, once again too loud. Mr. Yuki shook his head.

"Dimensional weak spot. She wasn't killed here, her body was just spat out in this place." He straightened up and faced them again. "I'd bet everything there's another portal between her house and Industrial Illusions. Hold on, I think I can open it."

"Open what?" Athena didn't have to try being loud for that one. "Hold it, what exactly are you doing?"

"Better step back. I'm going to see where this goes. "

The air started  _shimmering._ Athena grabbed the two guys and dragged them away from Mr. Yuki, whose eyes almost seemed to glow gold in the sun. A sun that was starting to look increasingly distorted, as if they were seeing it through broken glass. Mr. Yuki was in the middle of all, right in front of what looked like a hole in the very fabric of the world.

Athena cursed. The rift was expanding quickly - too quickly. Mr. Yuki lifted both hands. For a moment, the expansion stopped. Then it exploded.

"Run!" she shouted. Apollo dragged them both towards the road.

"Car's over there!"

"It's not fast enough!" Klavier shouted.

"You didn't even come here by car!"

"Less talking, more running!" Athena yelled. The noise behind them grew louder, until it overtook everything and made her stumble, blindly, as the pain became too much and her head felt like it was going to burst. Someone shouted her name; it might have been Apollo but she couldn't hear, couldn't see, the noise was everywhere and she was losing track of everything around her and she fell, and there were other people around her but she couldn't find them, couldn't hear and see and feel and she hit something hard, but there was nothing she could hang on to. The pain, unbearable before already, got even worse. Then there was sand, and rock, and then nothing at all anymore.

**March 8 2028 4:12 pm**

**Wright Anything Agency**

The office was deserted when Trucy and Pearl entered it. Trucy threw her book bag on the sofa, earning her a pout from Pearl, and flopped down next to it.

"Daddy? You there? We're home!"

"Just a second!" Daddy's voice came from the back. He appeared, drying his hands on a towel. "How was school? Hey, Pearls."

"Boring," Trucy said. "Where's Polly?"

"He and Athena left two hours ago. They're investigating."

"Why did they arrest Mr. Judai?" Pearl asked. "He was only trying to help! I know he didn't do it!"

"I know, Maya was furious," Daddy said. "But if he's innocent, I'm sure everything will be fine. They've gone to talk to him and Mrs. Huang at the detention center."

"Did they say when they'd be back? Are they staying for dinner?" Trucy asked. Daddy shook his head.

"No and no idea. Pretty sure they're going to check out the crime scene too, but why don't you call them and ask?"

Trucy brightened. She got out her cell phone and dialed Polly's number.

_The number you are trying to reach is not in use. Please check the number or try your call again later._

"That's weird."

"What is?" Pearl asked. "Are they not picking up?"

"It says the number doesn't exist."

Daddy shrugged. "Probably just a hiccup in the system. Try again later."

"Mmm, yeah." Trucy stared at her phone. There was no way she had the wrong number. Her latest text message to Polly had been sent last night. It had worked just fine then.

"I'm going to see Mr. Judai," Pearl said. She clearly wasn't over the accusations yet. "Maybe they're at the detention center."

"I'll come with you."

Daddy frowned. "Trucy, don't you have homework? Your math test is tomorrow, isn't it?"

The one time daddy decided to pay attention. Trucy resolved not to mention any more tests in the future.

"I'll be back before dinner, Daddy. I'll have all evening to do my homework, I promise!"

Daddy looked conflicted. "All right, but I'm coming along."

He was just putting on his coat when the office phone rang. Trucy got there first.

"Wright Anything Agency, Trucy Wright speaking."

" _Trucy? Can I speak to your father?"_

"Oh, hello, Mr. Edgeworth!" Trucy covered the horn with one hand. "Daddy, it's for you."

Daddy hurried over, only one arm in his coat. He took the horn from her.

"Yeah, it's me. What's up?"

Trucy couldn't hear what Mr. Edgeworth was saying, but daddy's face grew angry.

"He what? How is that possible?"

More talking. Mr. Edgeworth's voice sounded more and more agitated.

"What? When?! Where are they?"

Loud voices in the background, and then Mr. Edgeworth's voice again. Daddy clenched his hand.

"Right, I'll meet you there. I'm calling Maya."

He all but slammed the horn down again and turned to her and Pearl.

"You two, I need you to stay here.  _Do not leave_  the building under any circumstances, is that understood?"

"Not even when it's on fire?"

"Trucy, this is serious!" Daddy shouted. Trucy cringed. Daddy took a deep breath and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Please, just promise me you won't do anything dangerous. Either of you."

"Mr. Nick, what's happening?"

Daddy looked away. "Judai Yuki disappeared from the detention center, and Prosecutor Gavin called 911 from the crime scene. Apollo and Athena were with him."

Trucy covered her mouth. "Where are they? Are they okay?"

"The call cut off abruptly. When the police arrived, they were all gone."

 


	5. Chapter 5

**?? ??  ??:??**

**???**

Klavier Gavin woke up with the worst headache this side of his days with the Gavinners and a distinct taste of sand in his mouth. He groaned and blinked up at the sky. The sun was shining down on him. More accurately, three suns were shining down on him.

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," he muttered. Something shifted next to him.

"Oh, you're awake? Thank goodness." Mr. Yuki said. He was standing a few feet away from him, together with the tiny brown spirit he'd summoned in court. Also, with a massive monster that towered at least a foot above him.

"Where am I? What did you do?" He spotted Apollo and Athena next to him, both in recovery position. "What happened to them?"

"They're just unconscious. They'll be fine, I think."

"How long have they been out?" Klavier crouched down next to Apollo. He was still breathing, at least.

"It's only been a minute." Mr. Yuki sighed. "I'm sorry. I should've been far more careful. This isn't a place for you guys."

"Judai, the portal's gone," the large monster said. Mr. Yuki swore loudly.

"Didn't think it'd go out of control like that." He forced a smile. "But don't worry, there's got to be another one nearby. I'll get you kids out of here."

Athena stirred. Mr. Yuki's attention was immediately on her. She groaned and turned over, her hands going to her head.

"Ears… hurts," she managed.

"Lie down for a bit," Mr. Yuki told her. "It'll pass."

Klavier winced. The light and the noise had been painful enough for him already. He didn't envy Athena's hearing or Apollo's eyesight now. Apollo rolled over and covered his eyes with his hands. "W'happened?" he muttered.

"You kids okay to sit up?" Mr. Yuki asked. Klavier looked around. There was nothing but sand as far as the eye could see. In the distance, he thought he saw something circle in the air.

"Judai," the monster said. Mr. Yuki nodded.

"I know. We've got to get moving or we'll be sitting ducks. Can you guys walk?"

Apart from sand in places he didn't particularly want to think about, Klavier felt well enough. Apollo and Athena, however, looked like they were about to keel over.

"Guess that's a no," Mr. Yuki muttered. "Okay, we'll take it slow for a bit. Any questions?"

"Where are we?"

"Desert World. I… guess it could've been worse. There aren't all that many monsters here." Mr. Yuki said. He was keeping a firm eye on the sky. "The portal we came through closed down, but there has to be another one nearby."

Apollo gingerly got up. Klavier held out a hand and pulled him back on his feet. "Okay?" he asked.

"Getting there. Ugh, this light."

"Apollo, right?" Mr. Yuki asked. "And you're… the Prosecutor?"

"Klavier Gavin."

"And she's Athena, right. Now that we've got the time for proper introductions anyway," he pointed at the tiny brown monster, "that's Hane Kuriboh. And over there is Yubel."

"We've met," Apollo muttered.

"Yeah, she still isn't very happy with you." He glanced up worriedly. "This is one of those world where monsters are completely real, so be careful. I've known some hiding in the sand."

Athena sat up abruptly. "Why'd you bring us here?" she asked. "Because if you're just going to try to kill us, we're not gonna make it easy!"

Yubel actually laughed out loud. "Girl, if we wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Don't be mean," Mr. Yuki told her. "I am sorry. As I told Klavier before, it was not my intention to drag you here. The portal shouldn't have opened so far. But at least there should be more portals around here."

"How do you even know that?" Apollo asked. He and Athena were standing side by side. Klavier joined them. He didn't like their chances against the monster Yubel, but at least it would be three against two.

"Because Cyan Sammons was killed here. Her body exited through the portal at Paseo del Mar, but she didn't enter there. There must be a portal somewhere else in California that also leads here."

"Cyan Sammons' car was found near her house," Klavier recalled.

"Then that's where we should end up."

Apollo raised his eyebrows. "So why should we follow you again?" he asked. Some of the pallor on his face had disappeared, but he still wasn't back to his usual vibrant self. The three suns of this world cast an eery glow over him and Athena, making them look almost otherwordly. Klavier could only hope it was just a trick of the light.

"Because Yubel and I have been here before and know something about this world. Do you?"

Apollo fell into a petulant silence. Mr. Yuki peered into the distance. The sky looked deserted, except for a solitary bird-like creature high above them. Klavier stared at it suspiciously, but it didn't make any move to come closer. It looked like a hawk, maybe an eagle, but he wasn't about to take anything in this world at face value.

The little monster that Mr. Yuki had called Hane Kuriboh chirped and flew off. Mr. Yuki gestured for them. "Come on, Hane Kuriboh's got a trail."

They exchanged baffled looks. Maybe there was something to be said for trusting Mr. Yuki for now, but did they have to believe that the tiny furball could actually lead them out of this?

"Hane Kuriboh's got great instincts. He's been my partner since I was fifteen," told them. There was a certain edge to his voice. Clearly insulting his spirits wasn't a smart idea. Could he read minds? As if Klavier didn't have enough people with freaky powers around him yet.

Speaking of those people, Apollo had also spotted the bird high above them and was pointing it out to Athena. Athena grimaced. She nodded once, quickly, and then ran to catch up with Mr. Yuki and Yubel.

"Um, Mr. Yuki?"

"If we're gonna try to get out of here, at least call me Judai."

"Right, um, Judai." Athena pointed up. "Is that a monster up there?"

Mr. Yuki—Judai—peered up and narrowed his eyes. "Hey Yubel, you don't think that's a Harpie Lady, right?"

Hane Kuriboh squeeked and dove for Judai's arms. He caught the monster and clutched it to his chest. Athena looked over her shoulder and cast him and Apollo a concerned look.

"I don't think it is," Yubel said. "Too small. But I'll go check."

She took to the skies with one massive swing of her wings. Judai peered after her, shielding his eyes against the three suns. "You kids better stay close," he said. "This one's probably nothing, but I can't stress it enough," he waited until Apollo and Klavier had caught up, "this world is dangerous. Yubel and I can handle it just fine, but—"

There was a cry. High up in the air, the bird-like creature attacked Yubel. Yubel didn't even bother dodging; when the bird hit her, it shrieked in pain and fell down. Yubel caught it.

"Wish she'd stop doing that," Judai muttered.

Klavier hoped they'd never have to go up against her. "Ah, your partner," he asked. "She is very strong,  _nein_?"

"You'd think," Judai said, not taking his eyes off Yubel as she descended, carrying the monster. "But she doesn't have any defense points."

"How's that work?" Athena asked.

"She's got an effect—how much do you kids know about Duel Monsters?"

"Twenty-four here," Apollo muttered.

"Ah, but it's because you look so young, Herr Forehead."

"Shut it," Apollo returned. Not one of his more inspired comebacks, but at least the banter felt normal. Klavier had never expected he would be so attached to the idea of normality.

"If you're done?" Judai looked vaguely amused. Yubel landed again. She was holding what, from up close, looked like an eagle with a gold-plated head. "Yubel can be attacked, but any damage she'd take is just reflected back to her attacker."

"That's why the bird knocked itself out?"

"Yep."

"It's an Eagle Eye, Judai," Yubel said. Judai studied the bird.

"Mmm, mostly harmless. It wouldn't have attacked us while we're in a group like this. We'll just let it wake up and fly off."

Apollo cautiously neared the bird. "It's pretty big."

"It's an eagle," Yubel said, her tone quite succinctly expressing her doubts about their collective intelligence. Klavier felt compelled to point out that they had all passed the bar.

"What, you're going to lawyer it to death?"

The bird squeaked. Apollo stumbled a few steps back as it wrestled itself loose from Yubel's arms and took to the air again with shaky wings. It circled them once, twice, until it'd gotten the hang of flying again.

Then it shot at Apollo.

"Apollo!" Athena shouted. Apollo fell back, throwing his arms in front of his face. Klavier tried to grab him, but Judai pulled him back, his eyes glowing the same teal-orange as Yubel's.

"Stay back! Neos!" he shouted. A new monster appeared, this one vaguely humanoid, but white and alien.

The eagle landed on Apollo's chest, wings spread, and stared him straight in the eyes.

"Don't move," Judai whispered, tightening his grip on Hane Kuriboh. "Hold, carefully."

He was moving behind the bird's back. The monster he'd called Neos did the same from the other side. The eagle turned its head and looked straight at them. If they couldn't get it away from Apollo— Its beak alone could take out an eye, never mind its claws.

The bird squeaked once, a high-pitched noise that seemed entirely unfitting for such a massive creature. Then it sat down on Apollo's chest and folded its wings.

"Um," Apollo said. Judai sagged.

"Hold," he told Neos. "Apollo, can you move?"

Apollo carefully lowered one arm. The bird followed the movement with sharp eyes but didn't move.

"Um, bird?" he asked. "Can I get up?"

The bird's look could only be described as long-suffering. It clambered off Apollo and flew up, but the moment Apollo had gotten back to his feet, it settled on his left shoulder.

"Looks like you made a friend," Judai said. He grinned weakly. Apollo looked stunned. He hesitantly moved his left arm. The bird squeaked indignantly and he lowered it again.

"Does this happen often?" he asked.

"Not very. You got lucky." Judai took a deep breath. "Okay, this is Elemental Hero Neos, by the way," he said. The white humanoid alien nodded. "Let's keep moving."

Klavier's pulse slowly lowered to a reasonable level again. First close call, and they'd all survived it in one piece.

"So Herr Forehead," he asked. "What are you going to call your bird?"

"It's not my bird," Apollo said, but Athena had overheard.

"Oh, how about Taka? No wait, that's a hawk. What's 'eagle' in Japanese? You should ask Simon!"

"I am not asking Prosecutor Blackquill about birds," Apollo replied. "Besides, why would I call an eagle, 'eagle'?"

The bird seemed to agree. It nuzzled Apollo's cheek.

" _Washi,_ " said Judai.

"What?"

"Eagle." He smiled. "Or did you forget that I am actually Japanese?"

Yubel laughed, a sound that didn't quite suit her, and said something in Japanese. Judai snapped back immediately, grinning. Apollo paid them no attention. He slowly stroked the bird's golden head.

"Chrysta," he muttered after a while. "Do you like Chrysta?"

The bird squawked. Apollo smiled and rubbed its head. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Where's that come from?" Athena asked.

"It's Greek," Apollo said. He looked down, embarrassed. "It means golden."

Athena giggled. Klavier forced a grin. Not the name he would've chosen, for sure.

"I wouldn't have expected you to know Greek, Herr Forehead."

"Just a few words here and there. It seemed interesting, with me being, well." He pointed at himself. Athena tilted her head, thoughtful.

"In that case, maybe I should learn some more myself. Hey, did you know psychology is Greek?"

Klavier nodded, as did Apollo. Judai turned around. "Really? I thought it was Latin."

Athena winced. Klavier felt her pain.

"Ah, no, Herr Yuki," he said quickly. "It is definitely Greek."

"Judai's never been very good with languages," Yubel said. She grinned. "I'm sure his friends still have a lot of stories to tell."

Judai half-heartedly swatted at her and the bird screeched. Klavier couldn't help it. He'd ask about the name later, but for now, he laughed.

**March 8 2028 5:30 pm**

**Paseo Del Mar**

Edgeworth's car was already there when Phoenix and Maya arrived, surrounded by a bevy of police cars. The crime scene looked like someone had exploded police tape over it. Phoenix dodged a reporter and headed to the scene, Maya in tow.

"Authorized personnel only," an agent told him. Phoenix groaned. They really didn't have time for this.

"Phoenix Wright, Wright Anything Agency," he gritted out. "Mr. Justice and Miss Cykes are my employees."

"And her?"

Maya drew herself up to her full height. "I am Maya Fey, Master of the Kurain Channeling tradition."

"Look kid, Halloween is over already—"

"Let them pass!" Ema shouted. Phoenix had never been more happy to see her. Maya looked about ready to make her own addition to the crime scene.

"Maya, Mr. Wright." Ema waved them over. "Prosecutor Edgeworth is over there, with the guys who were supposed to guard this place. Seems like that idiot sent them away when he arrived here."

"Idiot?" Maya asked. They followed her through the crowd of agents. The escape of a detainee and the disappearance of a high-profile Prosecutor had brought them out in throngs.

"Gavin."

"When did he call 911?" Phoenix asked.

"The dispatch center got the call at around half past three. That must've been when Judai Yuki arrived at the crime scene." Ema turned on her tablet. "I have the transcript here. They talk for a few minutes, then Judai Yuki tells them to stay back."

"After that?"

"The call shorted out. There's just a lot of noise and then nothing. Here." She thrust her tablet in Maya's hands. "I have to go, but I'll meet you in a bit."

Maya read the transcript on the tablet. Her face grew more worried with every line. "I guess that does explain what happened to Ms. Sammons." She tapped the screen, where Judai Yuki's words were written down. "Dimensional rift. He told me about them. They're very nasty."

"Wright." Edgeworth spotted them and paused in his dressing down of the agents involved. "Good. Apparently these idiots just heard a lot of noise, and when they arrived, everyone was gone. Prosecutor Gavin's bike is still here, and he'd never leave that thing behind, so it's not like they just left."

"They're not here," Maya muttered.

"Maya," Edgeworth acknowledged with a nod. "Do you have any idea what happened?"

"It's all here," she said, holding up Ema's tablet. "There must've been a rift here and Judai tried to open it. They got sucked in."

"Sucked in to where?"

Maya shook her head. "I'm sorry, they could be anywhere. I guess…" She swallowed. "At least Judai's with them."

"Mr. Yuki was detained for murder," Edgeworth said. Maya rolled her eyes.

"He didn't do it. And it's not like a prison cell could keep him."

Phoenix looked around. No traces of anything out of the ordinary, just the lack of Apollo and Athena. "But how did he get out of the detention center? Without anyone noticing, no less?" he asked.

"It says here, doesn't it?" Maya told them, impatience ill-concealed in her voice. "He teleported."

Edgeworth reeled back. "You can't be serious. That's impossible!"

"Maya, he can't have. Or is this a thing those psychic people can all do?"

Maya sighed. "Judai isn't psychic. Not the way you think."

"Isn't… Maya, who exactly is he?" Edgeworth asked. "What are we missing here?"

Maya bit her lip. "Okay. Judai Yuki was born in Japan in 1989. He spent his high school years at Japan's branch of Duel Academy. Got involved in a few incidents there. After graduating, he started traveling the world in search of people who needed his help. That's how he met my mother."

"When was this?"

"Must've been around 2010."

"Misty Fey had already disappeared by that point, hadn't she?" Edgeworth asked. Phoenix winced. He didn't need to be reminded. Misty Fey had disappeared after the trial for the murder of Gregory Edgeworth, all the way back in 2002.

"Yes. I only met him after I became Master of Kurain." Like Edgeworth, Maya conspicuously avoided talking about her mother's death. "But apparently he and mother had worked together on various occasions. He can see spirits, but he can't channel them."

"You said he wasn't psychic, and yet he summoned a monster in the middle of court," Edgeworth said.

"He… isn't psychic in the conventional meaning of the word. Most psychics can summon monster spirits. Some can do a bit more. But Judai can do way more than that."

"Meaning?"

"He's only psychic in the same way that the sun is kind of warm." Maya took a deep breath. "I didn't believe it at first either, but apparently Judai Yuki is the living embodiment of the force that created the universe."

Phoenix and Edgeworth exchanged looks. Had Maya lost it completely? Had the stress of being Master gotten to her after all these years? Because this was absolutely impossible.

"The good news is that if he's with Apollo and Athena, they have a good chance of making it out alive," Maya said, her eyes back on the tablet. "He's probably the best shot they have."

"When are they going to be back?" Phoenix asked. Another dimension? It didn't even bear thinking about. Apollo and Athena were lawyers. They'd already gone through enough. They weren't cut out for life-or-death situations in other worlds.

"I'm sorry, Nick, I don't know. Could be in an hour, could be next week." Maya swallowed. "Could be never."

Trucy didn't even know Apollo was her brother. Funny, the kind of things he first thought of when everything was going to hell—again. But how would he tell Trucy about this? Lamiroir? Prosecutor Blackquill'd be furious that he'd let Athena out of his sight. And did Prosecutor Gavin even have any family left apart from—

How had their lives become this messed up?

"There's another problem, Wright," Edgeworth cut through his thoughts.

"What now?"

"The trial for Mrs. Huang is resuming tomorrow. We've lost both the prosecution and the defense."

"I'll…" He'd completely forgotten about the trial. Losing both sides at once was nearly unprecedented. "I'll take it. I'm their employer, I should take it."

Edgeworth closed his eyes and nodded once. "All right. I'll get all the paperwork in order."

"Are you—?"

"Yes. Yes, of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference:
> 
> Elemental Hero Neos: http:/ yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Elemental_HERO_Neos
> 
> Eagle Eye (Chrysta): http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Eagle_Eye


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, past events are brought up. No one is happy about it.

**Date Unknown - Time Unknown**

**Desert World**

Night snuck up on them without any of them even realizing. One moment they were making their way through the many, many dunes, accompanied by the faint light of the three suns, the next it was dark. It had been way too long since Judai’d been in this world. He should’ve remembered the way there was no dusk, how the dark would just sneak up on you. It wasn’t a problem for him, of course, but the three kids looked exhausted. 

"Let's stop here for the night," he announced. They'd only get themselves into more trouble if they tried to move on in the dark.

The kids looked dead on their feet. The Eagle Eye they'd found earlier was flying circles around them, keeping an eye out for trouble, but it settled back on Apollo's shoulder when it noticed they'd stopped. Apollo stumbled a bit under the extra weight before regaining his balance.

"Right." He frowned as he took in the three of them. They most definitely weren't dressed for this place. It was going to get cold very soon and they barely had anything on that'd keep them warm. Judai carried in his backpack, in order, a one-person blanket, two bottles of water, a whole bunch of granola bars Johan had shoved onto him, his duel disk, a lighter, a first-aid kit, a flashlight and an isolation blanket that would be of little use right now. He hadn't expected to be traveling with this many people.

"I've got a blanket, you can share that," he said. The kids looked at each other. He could almost recite the conversation passing between them word for word.

"Herr Yuki," Klavier said, smile firmly in place. "It does seem a bit careless for all of us to sleep at the same time,  _nein_? You have told us this world is quite dangerous."

"I'll be staying awake. As will Yubel."

"But you should not tax yourself needlessly for our—"

Judai sighed. "Look, I'm not going to kill you. Neither will Yubel." He glanced at her over his shoulder. "I didn't kill anyone."

And right away, he knew he'd said the wrong thing. Saw it in the way Apollo's hand went to the bracelet he was always wearing, the way his eyes went wide.

"You're lying," he said. "You're doing that thing again. You're lying."

Klavier's eyes widened. Athena gasped. Then, she very resolutely stepped in front of Apollo.

"You did kill her. You're the one who killed Cyan Sammons, aren't you?"

"Wait, listen!" Of all the things he could've said. "I didn't kill her, I swear!"

Apollo swallowed. His eagle spread its wings. "Can you say, with full honesty, that you never killed anyone, Mr. Yuki?"

Back to that. He closed his eyes. "I can't."

"Right. Right." Apollo took a deep breath. He stepped back and the other two followed. "Can you at least tell us it was some kind of accident?"

"I… No, it wasn't." Judai said. Yubel grasped his shoulders. "Listen, it was years ago, I was only seventeen–"

"Oh, really," eighteen-year-old Athena cut in. "Yes, funny, I wasn't feeling particularly murderous last year."

"I have to say I didn't have any issues with it either," Klavier continued. "Must be because I was passing the bar."

Judai clenched his fists. "I was stupid, okay? I did terrible things, things I regret to this very day. But I did not kill Cyan Sammons and I'm not planning on killing you. I'm just trying to get you all out of here in one piece!"

"Save it," Athena said. She grabbed Apollo's elbow. "We're out of here. We'll find our own way back."

"Don't be an idiot, girl. You'll die out here without our help," Yubel snapped.

"Oh, I've got a feeling your help won't change that outcome any," Athena shouted back. She dragged Apollo and Klavier with her, away from them. "Do not follow us!"

Judai moved forwards, but the Eagle Eye shot towards him. Judai tried to fend it off. Yubel swatted at it.

"Chrysta!" Apollo shouted, somewhere in the distance already. They were running. The bird flew up and shot after him. They hadn't even gotten far. He could follow them so easily if he wanted to. He could probably see them better in the dark than he could during the day. But they'd run until they'd exhausted themselves, and then they'd be sitting ducks.

"At least look out for them!" he shouted after the bird. It shrieked and circled around the kids. Judai watched it disappear behind a dune top. Then he sat down.

"I fucked up again, didn't I?"

"They wouldn't have listened," said Yubel. "If they want to be idiots, that's their problem."

"They're just kids, and I dragged them into this." He rubbed his eyes. "We've got to keep them safe somehow. They can't keep going like this."

"They're adults, Judai. You know that."

"But they're so young." Judai sighed. "They know nothing about this world."

"Now who's being a hypocrite?" Yubel wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. "Look, I'm sure they can survive for ten minutes without you. Let them cool down. They're not that stupid, they'll realize they need our help soon enough."

"I don't need any more people dying because of me." It had been twenty years, and sometimes he still had nightmares. He could still see the pain he'd wrought with his own hands, all the people he'd killed. All the traveling he did and all the people he helped would never make up for the thousands that had died by his hands.

"I'm as much to blame as you are, Judai."

"The Light–"

Yubel shook her head. "Look, we've been over this many many times. Yes, we both messed up. We both did horrible things. But it's in the past now and we can't change any of it anymore, so the best we can do is make sure it doesn't happen again."

Judai nodded. The kids couldn't have gotten far yet. He could easily catch up with them, but that'd just keep them running until they dropped dead from exhaustion. He glanced at his deck. No, it would be easier if he could just keep an eye on them from a distance.

"Black Panther," he whispered. "You awake?"

The monster appeared next to him. "With all this ruckus? It'd be a wonder if any of us weren't."

Judai grimaced. "Sorry about that. But you heard, right? Can you follow them?"

Neospacian Black Panther lifted his left paw with a disgusted look and started grooming it. "You seriously want me to go through all this sand, Judai? Why not send Air Hummingbird?"

"They've got an Eagle Eye with them."

"Oh yes, because it'll spot Air Hummingbird, but not me. It's called Eagle Eye because its hearing is so good."

"Have you been hanging out with Amethyst Cat and Topaz Tiger again?" Judai asked. "Just… Never mind, just follow them. You're better equipped to deal with any monsters along the way than Air Hummingbird."

Black Panther contemplated that for a few seconds. Then he got up with a theatrical sigh. "This better not become a habit. I'm not a babysitter."

"I definitely don't plan on making it one."

Judai watched as the panther trotted off after the kids. If he concentrated, he could still see them in the distance. They'd kept walking all this time, even now that it was utterly dark around them. He hoped Yubel was right and they’d come to their senses soon, because they needed all the help they could get.

**March 9 2028 09:10 am**

**District Court - Courtroom n°2**

Phoenix had not slept. He knew Maya had managed a few hours, but Edgeworth, on the other side of the courtroom, looked no better. He'd been waiting up all night for a phone call, a message, anything, that could tell him what had happened to Apollo and Athena. Trucy had been crying when he'd sent her to bed last night; he'd called her in sick for school this morning and told her to stay at home with Pearl.

"We'll find them, Nick," Maya whispered. "Pearly and I will help however we can."

The judge overlooked the courtroom. "This is quite the nostalgic sight," he said. "I do wish it were under better circumstances. Prosecutor Edgeworth, any word on Prosecutor Gavin, Mr. Justice and Miss Cykes?"

"None, your honor. Detective Skye has launched a sweep of the city."

"I am sorry to hear that. I take it Mr. Yuki has not been found either?"

"He is suspected to be with the three of them, your Honor," Phoenix said. The judge closed his eyes.

"Then I will pray for them, Mr. Wright."

Maya sighed. "Your honor," she called out.

"Miss Fey? Why, it has been quite a while since we last met."

"Yes, your honor." Maya leaned forwards on the desk. "But Judai didn't do it, and he's probably the best person they can have with them."

The judge shook his head. "Be as that may, Mr. Yuki is still a suspect for murder." He slammed his gavel down. "Court is now in session for the trial of Mrs. Longxin Huang."

"The prosecution is ready, your Honor," Edgeworth said.

"The defense is ready," Phoenix added. He resisted the urge to rub his eyes. The sleepless night had not done him any good. Next to him, Maya looked agitated.

"The prosecution's opening statement, please."

Edgeworth straightened up. "In yesterday's court session, before the tragic disappearance of both the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorneys, the defense claimed that Mrs. Huang had neither means nor motive to kill Ms. Sammons. The defense then accused Mr. Judai Yuki of the murder. While Mr. Yuki clearly has the means to pull off a murder according to the victim's specifications, he too has no motive. Therefore, it is the prosecution's opinion that the question of motive should drive today's trial."

"Quite right, thank you, Prosecutor Edgeworth." The judge turned towards him and Maya. "Any objections, Mr. Wright?"

"None, your honor." The faster they resolved that question, the faster they could go back to looking for Apollo and Athena.

"For its first witness, the prosecution would like to call to the stand Miss Coral Drake."

Phoenix frowned. Before the trial, Edgeworth had hissed something to him about having found witnesses, but hadn't been able to tell him who those witnesses were. The woman who took the stand could be no older than Apollo. She was stocky, with brown hair pulled together in a low ponytail and a metallic, finely crafted bracelet on her left hand she was nervously toying with. At some point she'd clearly tried to apply eyeliner, but it had smudged before she'd reached court.

"Your name and profession, please," Edgeworth asked.

"It's…" she clasped her hands together nervously. "It's Coral, sir. Coral Drake. I'm a lab assistant in Ms. Sammons'…" she let out a dry sob. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was a lab assistant in Ms. Sammons' and Mrs. Huang's laboratory."

"Yes, it must have been very shocking for you," the judge said. "Miss Drake, could you tell us some more about Mrs. Huang?"

"Well…" Miss Drake hesitated. "I don't know if I should say…"

"Please testify for the court, Miss Drake," Edgeworth said.

Miss Drake nodded. "Mrs. Huang was always very nice to me. I'm sure she didn't do it, really! She was always telling us about her daughter, and how worried she was…"

"What was the matter with Mrs. Huang's daughter, Miss Drake?" Phoenix asked. Miss Drake looked down.

"Mrs. Huang's daughter is in the hospital, I believe. She needs a lot of treatment."

On the defendant's stand, Mrs. Huang was staring at Miss Drake, her expression almost betrayed. She shook her head. Whispering had broken out in the courtroom.

"And this treatment, was it expensive?" Edgeworth asked. Phoenix swallowed. Not good.

"I guess so?" Miss Drake looked at Mrs. Huang. "Must be. She's been there for as long as I've worked at Industrial Illusions." She suddenly gasped. "Oh, but Mrs. Huang didn't sell any secrets for the money or anything!"

"This is the first you've mentioned about money, Miss Drake," Edgeworth said. Phoenix was busy trying to find a way to turn this around. "What would the murder of Ms. Sammons have to do with money?"

Miss Drake frowned and lowered her eyes. "I… Cyan was very worried that someone would try to sell our portal technology. She was so angry when Chairman Pegasus gave that speech last month."

"Which speech was that?" Phoenix interrupted. They really needed to get the chairman of Industrial Illusions on the stand as well.

"I don't know if I'm allowed to say…"

The judge slammed his gavel. "Please testify about this speech, Miss Drake. What you say under oath cannot be hold against you outside this court."

Miss Drake nodded. "All right. It was maybe five weeks ago? I don't really remember. Chairman Pegasus said he had evidence that someone within the science labs was selling information to outside sources, probably military. He's very against that, you know."

Industrial Illusions had had problems with industrial espionage? A card game company?

"What interest does the military have in Industrial Illusion's work?" he asked. Maya looked pensive.

"Maybe they needed a game for when they were bored?"

_They should've just bought a deck of cards, in that case._

Miss Drake glared at Maya. "Industrial Illusions does so much more than just create cards! Ms. Sammons was researching summoning conditions and dimensional portals. That's what they were really interested in!"

"Dimensional portals?" Phoenix leaned forwards. Edgeworth mirrored his actions—clearly the significance of that statement hadn't escaped him either. "Could you tell us some more about that, Miss Drake? It could be very important for this case."

Miss Drake hesitated. "You don't really believe she was killed by a dragon, right? I mean, yeah, we had portals, but we only opened them in the lab. We didn't want to take the technology outside yet. It was way too dangerous. Completely untested."

"Natural portals exist," Maya said.

"Well yeah, sure, but what are the odds? A portal here in Los Angeles, and we didn't know about it?"

_Good enough odds for two of them to occur– Wait._

"Your equipment could detect where portals open, Miss Drake?" Edgeworth asked. Phoenix exchanged a look with him. They were on the same track.

"Better!" Miss Drake gestured wildly, for once enthusiastic. "Ms. Sammons had it all figured out. She could open them, decide how big they'd get and how long they'd last… We even had remote control for the things, so we wouldn't have to put ourselves in danger. It was genius, really. Her big breakthrough. No wonder she got so angry when people tried to steal her work."

Edgeworth nodded. Phoenix slammed his desk.

"Miss Drake, am I right when I say that this technology could open a portal to a different world, wherever and whenever you wanted it?"

"Yes…?"

"And the chances of a portal naturally occurring are very small, right?"

"Yes, I mean, they usually happen in places like active volcanoes or something. Where the barriers between worlds are very thin."

Phoenix nodded. "Thank you, Miss Drake. Your honor, the defense would like to propose a theory."

"Mr. Wright?"

"We do, unfortunately, know of a portal in Los Angeles. The one at the crime scene."

Edgeworth had caught on. "And the prosecution suspects the existence of another one, near the location where the victim's car was found. Understandably, the police didn't try looking too hard for it."

"Yes, I agree, Prosecutor Edgeworth, Mr. Wright. However, what is your theory?" the judge asked.

"Two things, your honor. First of all, Ms. Sammons was not killed at the crime scene."

The judge's eyes widened. "Oh, I see. You mean to say that she was killed in the parking lot where her car was found?"

"Impossible, your honor." Edgeworth said. He shuffled a few pages around. "I have here a report of the investigation of Ms. Sammons' car. The extent of the damage done to Ms. Sammons' body suggests severe blood loss, yet no traces of blood were found in or near her car. "

"And it isn't the defense's theory either," Phoenix picked in. "We propose that Ms. Sammons was taken from her car, transported through the first portal, and killed in the world she was transported to. After that, a second portal was used to bring her body back to earth, thereby making it look like the crime scene was in a completely different location. That, combined with the unnatural cause of death, would have been enough to throw us off the scent of the killer."

The judge nodded. "It truly is a very compelling theory, Mr. Wright. However, I am obliged to ask, can you present us with any evidence to support your claims?"

_Ah, right… That._

"Short of going to the dimension the portals led to, your honor, I'm afraid not."

The judge banged his gavel. "Prosecutor Edgeworth, do you have anything to say?"

Edgeworth shook his head. "I do believe the defense had a second part to their theory. I propose we hear them out."

 _Thanks, Edgeworth._ "Miss Drake has just testified for the court that the chances of a portal appearing out of nowhere are very small. The odds of two appearing on the same day, in the same city, are truly microscopic. Ergo, those portals were not naturally occurring, but opened with Ms. Sammons' equipment! Ms. Sammons' killer was an employee of Industrial Illusions!"

"Meaning Judai couldn't have done it!" Maya cheered. Phoenix glanced at her.

 _Yeah, we did just prove that, didn't we?_ If Judai Yuki truly wasn't the person who'd killed Cyan Sammons, it made Apollo and Athena and Prosecutor Gavin just that little bit safer.

The court was in uproar. The judge banged his gavel loudly.

"Order in the court! Mr. Wright, you are claiming that an employee of Industrial Illusions killed Ms. Sammons and used her own equipment to do so?"

"Yes, your honor!"

"Um, Nick…" Maya whispered. The courtroom fell utterly silent.

_Uh oh, I don't like this. What'd I say?_

"Mr. Wright," Edgeworth said. He gestured theatrically. "I do realize that defense attorney wasn't your first calling, but I would prefer it if you did your job and I did mine."

"Meaning?" Phoenix snapped back.

"Meaning that you just placed the blame for Ms. Sammons' death squarely on the shoulders of your own client."

**March 9 2028 11:00 am**

**District Court - Defendant Lobby n°2**

Miles Edgeworth couldn't remember the last time he'd wanted a nap this badly. Even the responsibilities of being chief Prosecutor didn't measure up against the day he'd just had. He spotted Wright and Maya Fey on the other end of the lobby, muttering to each other. Longxin Huang was sitting on one of the sofas. He couldn't help but feel bad for her. She looked horrible, no doubt because her own defense attorney had managed to accuse her again.

"Wright," he said. "Maya. A moment, please?"

"I know she didn't do it," Wright said without preamble. "Apollo and Athena trusted her, and—"

"Yes, I know." They really didn't have time for this. "Wright, I'm sure you know the significance of that technology Ms. Sammons developed."

Wright nodded. At least he seemed to be slightly more awake than he appeared. "We need to get our hands on it somehow. It's their only hope."

"I've already sent Ema to confiscate it. They won't be happy, but I agree." He turned to Maya. "I have a favor to ask of you."

Maya looked him straight in the eyes, resolute. "What do I need to do?"

"It's a very particular situation, otherwise I wouldn't be asking this. But for the sake of the lives of–"

"Out with it, Edgeworth," Wright snapped.

"Yes, all right." They all needed a nap very badly. "When court resumes, I need you or your cousin to channel Cyan Sammons and have her testify."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, there is more talk about the past. It's still not a popular subject.

**?? ??? ?? - ??:??**

**Desert World**

Only after two hours did they decide that it was safe to risk stopping. Klavier was very aware that it was a decision borne out of necessity: they were all exhausted and couldn't go on any longer without sleep. Still, they set up a watch system and Klavier took first watch. Neither Apollo nor Athena put up more than a token protest, but Apollo did instruct his bird to keep watch along with him. Not that it would be of much use if something attacked them, or worse, Judai Yuki found them, but at least they wouldn't be killed in their sleep.

The bird circled them, every inch a predator. Klavier could barely see her, but he frowned anyway. Athena had fallen asleep almost right away, and Apollo's breathing had evened out a few minutes ago. His watch told him he had another three hours to go.

He laid down, but that only netted him a faceful of sand. Frustrated, he stood up again and tried in vain to get the sand out of his hair and clothes. God, he needed a shower.

The bird shrieked and landed heavily next to Apollo. Apollo groaned.

"Whassamatter?" He opened his eyes. "Chrysta?"

The bird crooned. Apollo lifted a hand and scratched her between her wings, turning to look at Klavier.

"Prosecutor Gavin? Is everything alright?"

"I think so." Klavier peered into the dark. No sign of movement anywhere.

They lapsed into silence. Apollo dropped his arm and the bird snuggled up against him. Klavier stared at her.

"Prosecutor Gavin?" Apollo asked again.

"Why did you name her that?" he asked in a rush, before he could change his mind. Apollo closed his eyes briefly.

"Chrysta? Her mask is golden, so it seemed to fit."

"I know." He turned away. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Apollo get up again. The bird protested.

"Does it bother you?" Apollo asked. He sounded awake now, understanding. "There are other names."

"It's your bird."

Apollo sighed. "I–– I needed..." He made a frustrated noise. "I'm not explaining this right. I know her name has the same root as Mr. Gavin's."

There it was, the elephant in the room. The golden boy. Kristoph had been really proud of that name.

"So why?" If Apollo knew...

"Honestly? It was the first name that came to mind." Apollo laughed bitterly. "But also... I needed a different memory. Redeem the name, so to speak. It's been over a year and I want some closure."

Klavier let out a breath. He could understand that, at least.

"But you've known Mr. Gavin a lot longer than I have, so I completely understand if you don't want me to––"

"No, it's fine," Klavier cut him off. He turned around and studied the eagle. "Hey, can't get more different from Kristoph than a spirit bird."

Apollo snorted. The bird ––Chrysta–– spread her wings in an impressive display of her wingspan.

"So it's okay?"

"Yeah." Klavier held out a hand and Chrysta, after a nod from Apollo, neared. "I think you're right. Might as well move on with our lives. Give the name a different purpose."

**oOoOo**

Apollo woke up with the distinct taste of sand in his mouth. He flailed for a minute, before realizing where he was and what had happened the previous day. The blur of gold above his head alerted him of Chrysta's presence—she'd been keeping watch over them throughout the night. Athena, who'd had the last shift, was fast asleep now.

"Thirsty," he mumbled. Chrysta flew down and landed next to him. Apollo smiled tiredly. She was a sweet bird when she wasn't trying to attack him. He'd be sorry to have to leave her behind when they got out of here.

 _If_ , a nefarious voice in the back of his mind said.  _When,_  he returned firmly. They were not going to die here, not by Judai Yuki's hands and not by anything this world could throw at them. They were attorneys. They were known for turning things around.

"Oh, Apollo, did I fall asleep?" Athena asked. She stretched her arms above her head. "I'm sorry, did anything happen?"

"No, don't worry, it's fine. We're fine." He grinned. "Prosecutor Gavin's still asleep?"

They both looked at their sleeping travel companion. Figured that he'd be sleeping late. Apollo recalled last night's conversation. It had been taxing on both of them.

"You could just call him Klavier, you know. We're not in court."

"Force of habit, I guess." Apollo got up. Maybe it was a way of distinguishing Prosecutor Gavin from his brother. Maybe he needed the 'Prosecutor' prefix to convince himself it wasn't Kristoph in front of him.

Maybe that wasn't fair to either of them, not with Chrysta.

"I'll call him Klavier if he calls me Apollo," he decided. Athena grimaced.

"Fair enough, I suppose. Hey Klavier, rise and shine!"

Prosecutor Gavin groaned and rolled over. "Not quite the reception I'm used to," he mumbled. His hair had come loose from its characteristic spiral. Not that Apollo was doing much better; without hair gel, he had to keep brushing his hair out of his eyes every other minute. Athena had been smarter and used her hair tie to braid her hair and pin it up.

"What's the situation?" Prosecutor Gavin asked as he got up. "Everyone okay?"

"We're fine," Athena said. "Just-" Her stomach growled. She snorted. "Yeah, that."

Apollo grabbed his satchel. "I think I have a pack of cookies here somewhere, hold on…" He fished out his half-finished bottle of water and eyed it critically. It was better than nothing, but how far was it going to get them? Fishing deeper netted him a half-squashed granola bar and a pack of pop tarts. Opposite him, Athena and Klavier were going through their own stuff. The end result was two more bottles of water, a can of coke, Apollo's cookies and an assorted range of candy, courtesy of Athena. Also, for some reason, a bottle of wine.

Apollo raised his eyebrows. "Dare I ask?"

"It was supposed to be a gift, Herr Forehead. It's a very good year."

"I'll take your word for it," Apollo said. Athena leaned forward.

"Can I try?"

"Most certainly not," Apollo said before Prosecutor Gavin could do anything as stupid as agree. "Last I checked, you didn't magically turn twenty-one overnight."

"I'm legal in most of Europe!" Athena protested. Prosecutor Gavin nodded thoughtfully.

"This isn't Europe, is it?"

"It most certainly isn't the United States either!"

Apollo paused. It wasn't, was it? They had no idea where they were, except that they were in a desert, and aside from Chrysta, the only living creatures likely to exist here probably wanted to kill them. Athena bit her upper lip.

"But… But anyway, alcohol probably isn't very good. It'd just make us thirstier," she said. Prosecutor Gavin grabbed the bottle and put it away before it could cause any more arguments.

However sparse they tried to be while eating, for breakfast they still finished an entire bottle of water and half of the pack of pop tarts between the three of them. Worse, the air was warming up again. No one was saying it, but if they didn't find a way out, they'd be dead in two days. How were they ever going to find a way back? But they had to keep moving. Chrysta was still circling them, so at least she'd be able to tell them if anything dangerous was near. She shrieked once, briefly, and Apollo thought he saw something black jet away, but when he turned around, there was nothing.

"Did you see that?" he muttered.

"See what?" Athena asked, shielding her eyes against the sun.

"No, never mind…" Apollo grabbed his satchel. "Let's get moving."

Two hours later, the heat of the suns had turned practically unbearable. They'd all taken off their jackets and Athena had rolled up the sleeves of her blouse. Apollo was very sure his neck was already sunburnt.

"It's no use," Athena said. "We don't even know what we're looking for. How are we going to find a way back home?"

Apollo wished he could say anything encouraging, but he'd been thinking the very same thing. He exchanged a look with Prosecutor Gavin. The latter opened his mouth to say something, but fell silent.

"How far was Ms. Sammons' apartment from Paseo Del Mar?" Apollo asked.

"It was east of downtown Los Angeles, so maybe twenty miles or more," Prosecutor Gavin replied. Apollo sighed.

"I don't think we've even crossed ten miles yet."

"And we don't know if we're even walking in the right direction. Or if the portal there still exists," Athena added. They all let out a collective sigh.

"Maybe we should go back to where we came from. Judai Yuki could've been lying about that portal being closed," Apollo offered.

"Yes, just take a right at that one sand dune and then a left at the one that looks exactly like it," Prosecutor Gavin shot back. Apollo rolled his eyes.

"Do you have any better ideas? No need to get sarcastic about it."

To his surprise, Prosecutor Gavin looked down. "You're right, I apologize. This world is getting to me."

"It's getting to all of us," said Athena. She stopped walking with another sigh. "Let's stop for a bit. It's too hot to keep going."

Apollo wearily sat down on his jacket. The sand had already gotten everywhere - he wouldn't be wearing this suit for court anymore. He played with the top buttons of his shirt contemplatively.

"Much though I'm sure we'd all appreciate the view, Herr Forehead, I suggest you keep your clothes on," Prosecutor Gavin said. He looked up at the sky. "You'll just give yourself a heatstroke."

Athena giggled half-heartedly. Apollo buried his face in his hands. Prosecutor Gavin was probably right, but did he really have to put it that way?

"Maybe we should wait until it's night," said Athena, "before we go on. It's so warm now."

She made a good point, but nights were also dangerous. They had been fortunate enough not to see any monsters after Chrysta, but that could all change very quickly. Was it worth the risk to avoid the heat? They might not have much choice.

Chrysta circled them once and landed next to Apollo. "Hey girl," he muttered. "See anything?"

She cried out and shook her head. At least that meant no danger. It meant no help either, though.

"She lives here, doesn't she?" Athena said. "Where does she get food and water?"

That… Was a very good question. Prosecutor Gavin sat up. Apollo held out a hand to the bird and she hopped onto his arm easily.

"Chrysta, where do you find water?"

Chrysta tilted her head. Apollo grabbed his bag and fished out their remaining bottle of water. "Like this, see? Water."

She sniffed the bottle. Then she shrieked and took off from Apollo's arm. She circled them a few times, then made a sharp turn south.

"How far is it?" Apollo shouted at her. She hovered in the air, waiting for them to catch up. Apollo shrugged and looked at his traveling companions.

"Do we risk it?"

"What other choice do we have?" Athena said. She got up. "I don't plan on waiting until we drop dead. We need to at least try to find some help, right?"

" _Genau."_ Prosecutor Gavin followed her example. Apollo smiled.

"Okay, Chrysta, take us there!"

Chrysta led them on through the desert. The suns hadn't even reached their zenith yet, but despite the burning heat, they still cast the entire place in an unnaturally pale light. Were they on the verge of dying? This whole world looked like it wouldn't last much longer. With their luck, the suns'd go supernova while they were here.

_Now that's too pessimistic even for this situation._

After a mile, Athena started licking her lips. After three miles, they were all eyeing their final bottle of water. At five miles, they collectively decided they might just as well finish it.

"It wouldn't do to die of dehydration before we find who killed Ms. Sammons, would it?" Prosecutor Gavin said. He drank deeply before passing the bottle on to Athena. She passed it to Apollo, who finished it and pocketed the empty bottle again. They might need it to fill up. Right now, all they had left was a bottle of wine and a can of coke that was probably under enough pressure to use as a hand grenade.

"So who did it, d'you think?" Athena asked. "It wasn't Mrs. Huang, I'm sure of it."

"No, I don't think it was her," Prosecutor Gavin agreed. "Actually, I never did tell you two. We checked out her family. Turns out they have a bit of a legend around them. Dragon tamers."

"Oh?"

"Of course, the family itself treats it very tongue-in-cheek today. They're convinced there's no truth to it, but it gets them a nice reputation."

Apollo bit his lip. It wasn't his job to play Prosecutor, especially since the actual Prosecutor didn't believe a word of it, but he had to be sure. "What if there is truth to it?"

"Apollo!" Athena cut in. "Mrs. Huang didn't do it!"

Prosecutor Gavin let out a short laugh. "You do need certainty, don't you? What happened to believing in your client?"

Athena looked away. Apollo could kick himself.

"Don't worry, your client's innocent." Prosecutor Gavin looked up at the sky. "Truth be told, Mrs. Huang's family has as much psychic ability as a rock. Apparently Industrial Illusions actually has ways to test that. There's supposed to be some long-lost branch of her family that can see spirits, but not Mrs. Huang herself."

"What kind of card game company is this? Interdimensional technology and now this?" Apollo asked.

Prosecutor Gavin laughed. "Industrial Illusions is one of the biggest companies in the world. They do far more than just create cards."

"Okay, so it wasn't Mrs. Huang." Apollo didn't have to fake the relief he felt. "So who then?"

"Judai Yuki?" Prosecutor Gavin said. "Knowing that he can teleport, he'd just need to teleport over, kill her, and disappear. He's definitely done it before."

"Yeah…" Apollo bit the inside of his cheek. "Only I don't think he was lying when he said he didn't kill her. My bracelet only reacted when he said he didn't kill anyone."

"Well, then we're stuck." Athena said. "Anyway, he still killed people. There's no way we can trust him."

Chrysta shrieked. Apollo looked up just as she came swooping down and landed on his shoulder.

"What's the matter?"

But Athena grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him back. Prosecutor Gavin nodded towards a dune a good fifty yards away from them. A person had appeared. Not Judai Yuki, that much was clear. This person was a woman, red-haired and far taller than Judai Yuki, with heavy leather armor covering her body. She spotted them and unsheathed her sword.

"Who are you and what brings you here, humans!" she shouted. Athena tensed up.

"We are sorry to bother you," Prosecutor Gavin shouted back. "We are lost."

"Chrysta, move," Apollo hissed. He didn't want to endanger the bird if this woman turned out to be dangerous. The woman jumped off the dune and stopped about ten yards away from them. Up close, her face was tanned and weathered. Her eyes were a deep black.

"We don't often see humans here," she said. "Why are you here?"

"We… ended up here by accident," Prosecutor Gavin said. Apollo was all too happy to let him do the talking. "We would be very grateful if you could point us towards some food or water."

"Your bird almost got you there, boy," the woman said. She nodded at Apollo. Her armor had to be suffocating in the heat, but she didn't show any signs of discomfort. "You're lucky I found you, though. The residents of this oasis don't take kindly to newcomers."

"Ah, then we are very grateful, my good lady," Prosecutor Gavin said with a smile. The woman shook her head.

"Spare me the sweet talk. What're your names?"

"Apollo Justice, madam," Apollo said.

"Athena Cykes."

"Klavier Gavin." Prosecutor Gavin finished. He even followed it up with a half-bow. The woman looked contemplative.

"That so?" She turned around and started walking. "I do believe I'm known as Dragon Lady in your world, but you can call me Ator."

**March 9 2028 11:30 am**

**District Court - Courtroom n°2**

"Court is back in session for the trial of Mrs. Longxin Huang."

Phoenix glanced at Mrs. Huang on the defendant's stand. She looked tired more than anything. Maya had disappeared with Edgeworth, and while Edgeworth was back at the Prosecutor's bench, she hadn't yet returned. Undoubtedly preparing to channel Ms. Sammons. He spotted Miss Drake in the gallery behind Edgeworth, staring at Mrs. Huang.

"Does the prosecution have a witness prepared?" the judge asked. Edgeworth nodded.

"Indeed I do, your honor. Two, in fact."

Two? Phoenix had expected Edgeworth to call Ms. Sammons right away, but now it seemed like he had something else in mind.

"The prosecution would like to call to the stand Pegasus J. Crawford, Chairman of Industrial Illusions."

The man on the stand could be anywhere between twenty and sixty. His face had a kind of ageless quality to it and his hair, long and silvery-grey, covered one of his eyes fully. A weird fashion statement. He wore a fitted white suit that probably cost more than Phoenix's annual income. It looked even fancier than Edgeworth's.

"Witness, please state your name and profession."

"It has been thrilling to see the proceedings of this trial," Chairman Pegasus said. He spoke with a kind of lilting voice, stretching the vowels of every other word. Phoenix could feel his headache increase already. "But of course, I believe completely in the innocence of my cherished employee. Why, I don't know where my dear company would be without her!"

"Your name and profession, please," Edgeworth gritted out.

"Pegasus J. Crawford, my boy. I am the creator of Duel Monsters and Chairman of Industrial Illusions."

Edgeworth held up the transcript of Miss Drake's testimony. "Just this morning, Miss Coral Drake testified to us that Industrial Illusions had a problem with industrial espionage. Could you give us some more information on the matter?"

"Ah, my poor company…" Chairman Pegasus let out a deep sigh. "It is not a first, unfortunately. At Industrial Illusions, we perform groundbreaking research. Is it any wonder that certain parties would take an interest?" Here he looked up, suddenly angry. "But Industrial Illusions does not associate with the military. The person responsible for leaking our research will be punished severely. Even more so now that poor Cyan's work has disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Phoenix leaned over his desk. "What do you mean, disappeared?"

"Yes, her portal technology disappeared from the lab the day of the murder. We immediately checked our security cameras, of course, but our thief managed to elude us and there were no signs of a break-in."

This was bad. This was very bad. Without that technology, they wouldn't be able to get Athena and Apollo back. "Do you suspect anyone?" Phoenix asked. He had to ask something.

"We have narrowed it down to a person in the R&D department," Chairman Pegasus said, "And we suspect that the same person was also responsible for the espionage and Cyan's tragic demise."

"How well do you know Mrs. Longxin Huang?"

"Oh, Longxin didn't do it, I can assure you. Why, you might as well declare her innocent right now, Your Honor."

"I can?" the judge said. "Oh well, that would greatly simplify this case. Why, my grandchild's birthday is next week and I haven't been able to buy presents yet!"

"Your honor," Edgeworth interrupted.

"Right, yes!" the judge cleared his throat. "Yes, I am sorry, Chairman Pegasus. We will need proof that she wasn't the culprit."

_Ah, damn._

"Do you know Judai Yuki?" Edgeworth asked. Chairman Pegasus smiled.

"Why, yes! Judai-boy has done me a great favor in the past. I just know he's out there, helping as much as possible."

"He was a murder suspect as well," Phoenix said.

"Judai-boy? Oh no, he did not kill Cyan any more than I did! Of course he made his mistakes, but we all make mistakes, do we not?" He shook his head. "Ah, such a pity he didn't wish to join the Pro Leagues. But his friends the Marufuji brothers and Miss Tenjoin have made a great name for themselves."

"How long have you known Mr. Yuki, Chairman Pegasus?"

"Oh, over twenty years now? Yes, it must have been when I recruited my lead card designer. A very talented classmate of Judai-boy at the time."

This was getting them nowhere. "Chairman Pegasus, where were you at the time of the murder?" Phoenix asked.

"I was holding a conference call with Mokuba-boy. It is so hard to match up timezones between the United States and Japan."

"And that would be Mokuba Kaiba from Kaiba Corporation, am I right?" Edgeworth said. Phoenix had never even heard of the company. He'd gone into homicide law, not corporate law.

"Indeed, indeed. But I assure you, Longxin would never spy on my company or kill dear Cyan. Oh, I do hope you will find the true culprit. It would be such a relief. Why, I haven't slept in days!"

_Join the club._

Edgeworth nodded. "We will have your alibi confirmed."

"Good, good." Chairman Pegasus made to leave the witness stand, then changed his mind and turned to Mrs. Huang.

"Longxin, dear, how is your daughter doing? Is her treatment taking effect?"

"It is, Chairman Pegasus." Mrs. Huang nodded. "We are very grateful for your support and the money you offered us."

"That is all I needed to hear." Chairman Pegasus walked back to the gallery, leaving most of the court staring after him. Chairman Pegasus had helped Mrs. Huang's daughter? Maybe that would be enough to absolve Mrs. Huang from the need for money.

"I do believe this testimony enables us to say with certainty that the person who killed Ms. Sammons was also the person who tried to sell classified information to the military," Edgeworth stated. "Our defendant, Mrs. Huang, does not seem to be short on money anymore, but we are still left with several questions. Among others, where did Ms. Sammons' portal technology go?"

"Quite true, Prosecutor Edgeworth. What do you suggest?" the judge asked.

"The prosecution has one more witness who will, hopefully, be able to bring some more clarity to this case."

 _And somehow find Apollo, Athena and Prosecutor Gavin,_ he didn't say, but Phoenix could hear it loud and clear. He braced himself.

"The prosecution would like to call to the stand Ms. Cyan Sammons."

Furious whispering broke out in the gallery. The judge blinked. "Mr. Edgeworth, isn't that —"

"The victim? Indeed, your honor. It is an unusual situation, one that I feel asks for unusual measures."

It was Maya who took the stand, but like before, her eyes had changed color to brown and her skin had darkened. The way she moved wasn't Maya either. It was more resolute, more determined than the Maya he was used to.

"Master Maya Fey agreed to channel the victim for us," Edgeworth said. "Witness, your name and profession, please."

"I already told you that, didn't I?" said Cyan Sammons. "Haven't you heard my name enough by now?"

"Please oblige this court, Ms. Sammons."

"Fine, Cyan Sammons. I'm ––  _was ––_ a scientist with Industrial Illusions."

Mrs. Huang looked down, eyes dark. In the gallery, Miss Drake was staring at Ms. Sammons with something akin to scared wonder.

"Ms. Sammons, you have testified for the court that you were attacked and killed by a duel monster. Have you, by any chance, followed the proceedings of this court?"

"I have, yes."

_Oh great, so the spirits can keep watching us even when they're dead? Good thing I kept Charley alive all that time._

"Does it bring anything to mind? Anything you didn't remember when Master Fey first channeled you?"

Ms. Sammons bit her lip. "I knew about the espionage thing, of course. A few of my papers had started disappearing. When I reported it to the chairman, he started a widespread investigation to find the culprit, but no luck. Apparently they were offering a lot of money to whomever got them the information on the project. Heck, just the other day Coral asked me how much I'd want if it were up to me." She grinned. "But why would I want to sell out my own work? Industrial Illusions pays pretty well, and at least I can be sure they won't try to use it for anything else."

"How long have you been working with Mrs. Huang and Miss Drake?" Phoenix asked.

"I've worked with Longxin since she arrived here, so that's what, two years? Coral joined us last year in August. She was always great with the monsters. We really needed her on board, because neither I nor Longxin can see monster spirits."

Phoenix frowned. "And Miss Drake can?"

"Yep. Truth be told, I was always a bit jealous. But it runs in her family, apparently."

Edgeworth turned around to the gallery. "Miss Drake, is this true?"

Coral Drake got up. "Yes," she said quietly. "It's… it's very common in my family. My mother and all my cousins can do it too."

"Thank you, Miss Drake. Ms. Sammons," Edgeworth turned back, "I take it you did bring over monster spirits to your lab?"

"Oh yes, sometimes, but only a few low-level ones. Coral talked to them for us. Never any dragons, though," she added when she saw them look. "Actually, we tried to stick to the humanoid ones. They're more likely to be intelligent enough to hold a conversation. We made some great progress with a Dragon Lady last week."

That was… interesting. Phoenix could feel the nugget of an idea starting to form, but he didn't quite know which form it was going to take yet. Something was staring him right in the face, and somehow he needed to figure it out. For all of their sakes.

"Do you remember anything more about the day you were murdered?" he asked. Ms. Sammons bit her lip again and toyed with Maya's hair.

"Well, I was driving into work, that much I'm sure of… That dragon attacked me… It attacked me… Wait, no, that wasn't here!" She nodded. "I think you were right earlier. It didn't attack me here on earth. I only remember a whole lot of sand. It was night there."

"This confirms the defense's earlier theory that Ms. Sammons was not killed here on earth, your honor," Phoenix said with a grin. The judge nodded.

"That does seem to be the case. As Judai Yuki had no way of creating any portals, I do believe this does alleviate his guilt quite a bit." He frowned. "You do realize, Mr. Wright, that this means your client is still our number one suspect?"

"I do, your honor. I maintain that Mrs. Huang did not kill Ms. Sammons, and I do believe that Ms. Sammons will be able to help us find the real culprit."

"Ms. Sammons," Edgeworth said. "Your car was found parked in a parking lot a few blocks away from your apartment. Do you know why you stopped there?"

"You know, I feel like I should remember…" Ms. Sammons looked up at the ceiling. "There's something I had to do there… Oh, right!" She smiled. "Yes, right, Coral called me and asked me if I could pick her up. She'd missed her bus. She wasn't there when I got there, though."

"She what?" Phoenix slammed his hands down on his desk. "Your honor, this changes everything!"

"Mr. Wright?"

"Our client, Mrs. Huang, was nowhere near the place of the crime when Ms. Sammons was murdered. But now, according to Ms. Sammons testimony, it turns out that Miss Drake was!"

"Mr. Wright, are you suggesting…?" the judge asked. Phoenix nodded.

"I am, your honor. The defense would like to indict Miss Coral Drake for the murder of Ms. Cyan Sammons."

"Wait, Coral?" Ms. Sammons interrupted. "No way it was Coral!"

Phoenix cast a glance at Mrs. Huang. She was staying suspiciously silent throughout the proceedings, as, he noticed, was Chairman Pegasus. In the gallery, Miss Drake had jumped up.

"But I didn't do it!" she shouted. "I mean, yeah, I called Cyan, but turned out I could catch another bus at the bus stop around the block, and I texted her back to say so!"

The judge frowned. "Mr. Edgeworth?"

_Come on, Edgeworth, work with me here. You know it wasn't Mrs. Huang. It has to be her._

"I do believe the evidence against Miss Drake is now marginally less flimsy than that against Mrs. Huang. While we cannot discount the possibility of Mrs. Huang as the culprit, I am inclined to at least humor the defense's theory."

The judge nodded. "Very well. This trial is turning out to be far more complicated than we initially assumed. I would like an answer to all of the questions posed in today's trial by tomorrow. As we are in need of more investigation, I will conclude today's court session. Any objections?"

Miss Drake looked terrified. Ms. Sammons was shaking her head in disbelief. Mrs. Huang sat straight-backed in her chair.

"No objections, your honor," Edgeworth said.

"No objections."

The judge nodded. "Then court is dismissed."


	8. Chapter 8

**?? ??? ???? - ??:??**

**Desert World Oasis**

Athena let herself fall back into the shade of a tree. "This is so much better, I swear," she said. Apollo hummed in agreement. He'd taken off his shoes and socks and was now cooling his feet in the water of the oasis, not even caring that his trouser legs were soaked through. Klavier had curled up after wolfing down the food Ator had provided them with, and was now fast asleep. Athena bit her lip. She hoped he wasn't getting sick.

"How are you two holding up?" Ator asked. She was still wearing the heavy leather armor. Could she even take it off to begin with? Could spirits change their appearance?

"We're fine, thank you," Apollo replied. "You saved our lives."

"Hmm, yes. How did you even end up in the Desert World? It's not often that we get any humans here."

The oasis was swarming with life, from the tiny mice that Chrysta was chasing, to a couple of creatures that looked like winged women and only communicated in shrieks, and even a few nasty-looking, rainbow-colored fish. One swam precariously close to Apollo, who quickly pulled his feet out of the water.

"It was an accident, I think. We, ah, were investigating a murder in our own world. Someone who had been killed by a Sapphire Dragon. We suspect it actually happened here," Athena said. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

Ator rubbed her chin in contemplation. "There are Sapphire Dragons in this world, yes, but they're peaceful creatures. They only do what I tell them to do."

There was some commotion and Chrysta shrieked, followed by the harpy-like monsters. In the distance, a black panther appeared on a dune top. Ator unsheathed her sword, but the panther took one look at them and shot off through the desert again.

"That's not good," Ator mumbled.

Athena straightened up. "Is it dangerous?"

"Not so much in and of itself," Ator said, still looking after the panther. "It's a monster that follows a very dangerous man, though."

Apollo frowned. "Who?"

"He's known as the Supreme King, though I hear he doesn't go by the title anymore." Ator sighed. "The Desert World was lucky to escape his rule, but one of our sister worlds was subjected to his cruelty twenty years ago. Thousands died under his reign. We thought he was defeated, but lately, rumors have been popping up that he's still alive."

"And he's here?" Athena clenched her fists. What kind of vicious person would willingly kill thousands of people?

"If the panther's here, he can't be far behind, but as long as I'm here, we can take him on. Still." Ator looked up. "For all of our sakes, I do hope he'll decide to pass us by."

"What kind of duel monster is he?"

"No monster, Athena," Ator said. "The Supreme King was human, like you. Unfortunately, he has some very peculiar powers that none of us really know how to combat."

"What kind of powers?" Athena asked. They'd already dealt with psychics and real monsters. This guy couldn't be that much worse, right?

Ator frowned. "The Supreme King possesses the powers of darkness. It's almost impossible to combat. No one really knows how his reign ended in the first place." She toyed with the hilt of her sword. "You're quite lucky no one took you out earlier. This world isn't very fond of humans, after what he did. I even had to forbid my own partner from following me."

"You have a human partner?" Apollo asked. "In our world?"

"Yes. She's part of a family that has been in contact with our world for centuries. She even created ways of communicating with me." She pulled up her sleeve and showed off a futuristic-looking metallic bracelet. "It works a bit like one of your cell phones. The reception is a bit better, though."

Apollo got up. "But that's great! Do you think we can use it to contact our world? Maybe it can get us out of here!"

"It is keyed to my voice," Ator told them, "but I can most certainly try. She might not be around right away, but I'm sure we can do something about you three being here." She started fiddling with the device. "It might take a while before I can get in touch with her. I suggest you follow your friend's example and get some rest in the meantime. You've had a long journey."

Some rest did sound like an amazing idea. Athena let herself fall down in the sand again. They finally had food and water, and maybe even a way back home. They would get out of here after all, preferably before that Supreme King guy showed up. But he was only human, right? Even with those darkness powers, if he'd been the ruler of some place, he'd probably done nothing but sit on his ass. She could take a guy like that with her hands tied behind her back.

Chrysta landed next to Apollo. He scratched her under her beak. "If we go back, do you think we'd be able to keep contact?" he asked absently. Chrysta folded her wings and snuggled up against him.

"Maybe she can come with you," Athena said. "Mr. Yuki had those spirits with him, didn't he?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Apollo ran a hand through her feathers. Chrysta cooed. "She lives here, though. I can't take that away from her, right?"

"We'll figure something out." Athena yawned. "We get to go home. That's good, yeah? Go sleep, Apollo."

"Mmm, yeah, I suppose you're right," Apollo replied softly. In the distance, Athena could vaguely hear Ator talk. Apollo didn't seem to pick up on it.

"You sure?" she heard Ator say. "Yeah, in that case I'll hold off for a bit, but we'll see about tomorrow. You're going to be fine on your end?"

Athena closed her eyes with a smile. At least someone in this world was willing to help them out. When she got home, she'd have a shower, and then put on her pajamas and eat pizza all day long. She only hoped everyone back home was okay without them. What would have become of the trial? She curled up on her side. They'd probably already wrapped it up by now. As long as Mrs. Huang hadn't been found guilty, it'd all be okay.

**March 9 2028 01:56 pm**

**Chief Prosecutor's Office**

"Do we have the phone?" Mr. Edgeworth asked without preamble. Mr. Wright was slumped back on the couch, with Maya next to him. Ema nodded and held out the bag with Ms. Sammons' phone in it.

"We found it next to the creek at the parking lot," she said. "Thought it was a lost cause, what with the water damage and all, but our techies managed to get the data."

"And?"

"Drake's story holds up. She called Sammons the morning of the sixth, then texted her half an hour later." Ema grabbed the transcript out of her bag. "I quote: 'its fine im good, got a different bus'"

"Do we know if she actually took it?" Mr. Wright asked. Ema nodded.

"Ticket stub, and the bus driver confirmed she got on the bus."

"That's annoying," Maya muttered. "How did she do it, then?"

"Either someone is trying to set Miss Drake up like they tried to set up Mrs. Huang, or she is far craftier than we thought," Mr. Edgeworth muttered. He looked upset, not at all like the perfect Prosecutor she was used to.

"Yeah anyway, about that," Mr. Wright leaned forward, "what's the deal with Mrs. Huang's daughter exactly, Edgeworth?"

Mr. Edgeworth frowned. "Hmm, yes, according to Chairman Pegasus, Xiaoyan Wei, Mrs. Huang's daughter, started suffering from chronic and debilitating headaches a few years ago, and it was discovered she had a brain tumor. He loaned her the money she needed to get treatment for her daughter."

"Wait, Mrs. Huang really was short on money?" Ema asked. "Why again are we not suspecting her as a culprit?"

"Athena and Apollo trusted her," Mr. Wright muttered. "And anyway, that's exactly what our murderer wants, isn't it? Set her up as the suspect. The money's pretty handy."

"Chairman Pegasus actually loaned her the money long before they even suspected industrial espionage," Mr. Edgeworth said. Ema still wasn't quite convinced.

"But just because they didn't suspect any, didn't mean there wasn't any, right?"

Mr. Edgeworth shook his head. "Good thinking, detective Skye, but no. The agreement was made before Mrs. Huang even came to California. She and her husband moved from Shanghai to California because they wanted better treatment for their daughter. The deal with Chairman Pegasus was part of that."

Maya sighed. "So it wasn't Mrs. Huang and it definitely wasn't Judai. That leaves Miss Drake, right?"

"She's in the detention center," Mr. Wright said. "I'm going to go talk to her. Want to come along, Maya?"

Maya considered. "I should go check up on Pearly. How's Trucy holding up, Nick? I mean…"

Mr. Wright slumped. "Not very good. She was crying all of last night."

"I'll take Pearly to see her," Maya decided.

Mr. Wright nodded and grabbed his coat. Ema got up.

"I'll give you a ride to the detention center, if you want," she said.

"That'd be great."

"By the way, Wright," Mr. Edgeworth called out as they made their way to the door. "Prosecutor Blackquill found out that Miss Cykes disappeared. I'd be careful, if I were you. He's on the warpath."

Mr. Wright groaned. "What's he blaming me for anyway?" he muttered. Ema could only pat his shoulder in sympathy. Prosecutor Blackquill was a scary, scary man and she wouldn't like to get on his bad side.

"C'mon, let's get out of here before he finds us," he told Ema. They headed down to the parking lot together, mercifully avoiding any sign of Prosecutor Blackquill. The ride was mostly silent. Mr. Wright stared out of the window while Ema navigated Los Angeles traffic. She didn't have to be psychic to know where his thoughts were going.

"They'll be okay," she whispered. "They wouldn't die so easily."

Honestly, she had no idea. Apollo and Athena were fairly good friends and she even found herself missing Prosecutor Gavin, however much he got on her nerves. She'd definitely never wanted him in a life-threatening situation like this.

"If we could only get Industrial Illusion's equipment, we might be able to get them back." Mr. Wright sighed. "It's been a day. I hope they're all right."

"They have Judai Yuki with them, right? Maya said he was okay."

"He's the one who got them in that mess to begin with, he'd damn well better get them out," Mr. Wright growled. "I don't care what he's supposed to be. If he lets anything happen to them I will deal with him myself."

Seeing Mr. Wright truly angry was a rare sight. Ema shuddered and grabbed the wheel more tightly. "I'll drop you off at the detention center and go talk to Chairman Pegasus," she said for a change of topic. "We'll start by searching Industrial Illusions, then the murder scenes. Maybe it's there."

"Right, thanks, Ema." Mr. Wright closed his eyes. "You're a lifesaver."

_Let's hope that's true_. She turned the corner and got onto the road leading to the detention center. It took them another ten minutes of silence before Ema pulled over and Mr. Wright unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Good luck," he told her. "And thanks again."

"You too."

Mr. Wright slammed the door with slightly too much force; he winced apologetically when she glared, but waved back at her when he entered the center. She waved back half-heartedly. Time to go to Industrial Illusions and get those three back home.

**March 9 2028 3:21 pm**

**Detention Center**

Detention life didn't suit Coral Drake well. Her eyeliner had smudged completely, and she was huddled on a chair in a corner of the room when he was shown to her holding cell.

"Miss Drake?"

She shot up, but when she saw him, she glared and turned around. "Oh, it's you."

"My name is Phoenix Wright. I am Mrs. Huang's defense attorney."

"Yeah, I know. You had me arrested." She finally turned and faced him. "Why would I kill Cyan? She was my mentor!"

"If you didn't kill her, I can help you. We need to find out who really killed her."

Miss Drake snorted. "Is that how you get clients? Get them arrested first and then offer to help them?"

This was going to be a tough one. "Miss Drake, please. There's a lot at stake here. We need to find out who killed Ms. Sammons."

"Well, I didn't do it."

Yeah, he'd had someone else say that once before. He'd learned his lesson.

"Miss Drake, do you know anything about the death of Ms. Sammons?"

Bingo. Even as Miss Drake said, "Why should I?" no less than five Psyche-locks sprung up. She definitely did know more about Ms. Sammons' death. This was going to be a tough case to crack, but the end was in sight. Would it be enough to get Apollo and Athena back?

"Miss Drake, you do know more about Ms. Sammons' death, do you?"

For a second, Miss Drake wavered, but she steeled herself. "What makes you think that?"

"You are the only one with all the means to commit the murder. You have access to Ms. Sammons' portal technology and the ability to communicate with spirits. You could've set it up easily."

One of the Psyche-locks broke. Phoenix hid his smirk. At long last, they were getting somewhere.

"And that makes me responsible for her death? I'm not the only Industrial Illusions employee who can see spirits, and anyone could've taken the technology from the lab," Miss Drake said. Phoenix shook his head.

"A high-profile project like that? The only people who should've had access to the lab were Ms. Sammons, Mrs. Huang, Chairman Pegasus and you yourself, Miss Drake."

Another lock broke.

"All right, I guess you got me there. I did get the technology from the lab. But I still didn't kill her."

Phoenix gritted his teeth. It was her. No doubt about it. "Oh no, I believe we all know what did kill her," he said. "Sapphire Dragon. But who gave it that order, Miss Drake?"

"I don't know, but it wasn't me. Humans can't order spirits around."

The locks stayed intact. He didn't have her yet. "I think you do know, Miss Drake. I recall Mr. Yuki's testimony. Some people have spirit partners and I suspect you are one of those people. So was it your partner who commanded Sapphire Dragon?"

Miss Drake fell into a surly silence as another lock broke. Phoenix took a deep breath. Almost there. If they had her, they could focus all their time on finding Apollo, Athena and Prosecutor Gavin.

"But that leaves the question of motive, Miss Drake," he continued. "Why did you kill Ms. Sammons? I believe you are the spy Chairman Pegasus was looking for, and Ms. Sammons refused you access to her invention."

Miss Drake raised her eyebrows. "And what makes you think so?"

"Ms. Sammons told us herself, Miss Drake. You asked her how much money it'd take for her to sell her technology. Of course, Ms. Sammons thought it was a joke at the time, but it wasn't, was it? You were trying to get her to sell it, and when she didn't, you had her killed to get your hands on it."

And the penultimate lock broke. Almost,  _almost_ there. Miss Drake's bracelet beeped and a small screen lit up. Miss Drake read the text that appeared, then smiled.

"Well, isn't that interesting?"

Phoenix clenched his hands. "What is, Miss Drake?"

"I do believe you are missing a couple of people, Mr. Wright. It turns out my partner just found them."

Phoenix recoiled. "They're alive?"

"They are." Miss Drake got up and leaned over until her forehead almost touched the glass. "But here's the deal, Mr. Wright. I go free tomorrow. By the start of the trial, by the end of it... I don't care, but I won't be convicted. I do not believe you have the evidence you need, so it should be easy for you. If you don't manage it, your dear friends might not be alive for much longer."

Phoenix looked around frantically for a guard. They had to get that bracelet off her. If she couldn't give a signal, then—

Miss Drake sighed. "I wouldn't like to see anyone else die, and I mean that, Mr. Wright. But don't get any clever ideas. These bracelets have been in my family for ages, and I perfected them. If you take it off, or if something happens to me, my partner would know. That wouldn't be good for your friends, would it?"

"You… you can't—"

"I can. Goodbye, Mr. Wright."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I could come up with some excuse to justify the lateness of this chapter, but the honest truth is that I just got caught up with NaNo and completely forgot about it. So, apologies for the delay, and enjoy!

 

**?? ??? ?? - ??:??**

**Desert World Oasis**

Klavier woke up in what he believed were the early hours of morning. The three suns were up in the sky again. This was their third day in the Desert World. If Apollo and Athena were to be believed, at least Ator and her human partner would be able to get them out soon. He rolled over, eyes still closed. He didn't feel like waking up just yet, now that it was safe to sleep. The sandy ground didn't exactly make for a comfortable bed, but that was the least of his worries.

"You sure?" Ator said somewhere in the distance. Klavier cracked open one eye. Athena and Apollo were fast asleep next to him. "This is becoming quite the body count."

_Body count?_  Klavier didn't like the sound of that. He shook Apollo's shoulder and immediately held a finger to his lips when he woke up.

"Just listen," he hissed. Apollo nodded.

"No, they're asleep. They still haven't released you?" Ator swore. "What do you want me to do with the bodies? Or are you going to open a portal?" She briefly paused. "Come here? Are you sure?"

Apollo's eyes widened. "You don't think…" he whispered. Klavier nodded and jerked his head towards Athena.

"Time to get out of here."

Apollo turned around soundlessly and shook Athena awake.

"We're in trouble," he whispered before she could say anything. "We've got to get out of here."

To her credit, Athena needed no further explanation. She got up slowly and grabbed her bag. This was getting worse and worse.

Klavier was almost glad for the many trees and shrubs that surrounded this oasis. It hid them from Ator. What they'd do once they made it to the desert again, he didn't know. They'd be right out in the open, but if they stayed here, they'd be dead within the hour.

They had almost made it out of sight when, of course, Ator noticed them.

"Hey! Are you leaving already?" she shouted. They froze.

"Ah, well, yes, we figured we shouldn't be bothering you any longer," Klavier said, turning around slowly. "You've been more than kind to us."

Ator sighed. "Ah, I guess you overheard."

"I'm sorry, overheard what?" Klavier asked. Next to him, Athena bent low.

"Yes well, I am sorry. It can't be helped, unfortunately, since your mentor saw it fit to imprison my partner."

"Mr. Wright did—?" Apollo asked. He shook his head. "You're the one who killed Cyan Sammons, aren't you?"

"Oh no, not me," Ator said. She whistled. "She did."

From behind the trees, hidden away under the rocks, a huge rumbling sound came. Athena gasped, her hands going to her ears.

"The thing is, dragons rarely do anything if I don't tell them to. I'm telling them now." A dragon lumbered in view, huge, with blackish-blue skin that almost seemed to glitter in the dim light of the three suns. "Sapphire Dragon, kill them."

"RUN!" Apollo shouted. He grabbed both of them and started running, between the dunes, away from the dragon, but it was so much faster than expected, its huge body easily finding traction on the loose sand. It should've been impossible. Klavier glanced backwards. Ator was following the dragon.

"They're peaceful!" he shouted. "It's Ator doing this!"

Athena nodded. "All right," she said, and pulled loose from Apollo's grip. "Keep running."

And she turned around and ran straight at the massive dragon.

"Athena!"

The massive dragon swiped at her, but she dove into a roll and barely avoided it. For a moment, she was gone, and then she was up and running again, past the dragon, who looked around in confusion, and straight at Ator.

Ator shook her head. "Get the other two. I'll deal with this one."

Klavier swore, a combination of curses from every language he could think of. German was wonderfully versatile like that, with its ability to string words together and—

"Watch out!" Apollo tackled him as the dragon swiped at him, but too late; its claw bit deep into his arm. He cried out. The pain burned through his arm and for a second he saw black. Then Apollo was pulling him up again, out of the way of the oncoming dragon.

"You okay?" he panted.

"Been better."

Ator had unsheathed her sword. Athena was keeping a safe distance from her. She'd opened her bag and taken something out, a small, cylindrical object she kept shaking. Klavier's eyes watered through the pain in his left arm, but if he fainted here, there was no way he'd make it out alive. He refused to be eaten by a dragon. He staggered out of the way of the oncoming dragon. Its huge size seemed to make it slower than he'd first assumed. Apollo caught sight of his arm and winced.

"You've got to hide," he shouted.

"Not helping!" Klavier yelled back. He rolled away when the dragon attacked again and landed on his injured arm. For a moment, he saw stars. Then the dragon was there, bearing down upon him. He shielded his face—

There was a bang. The dragon paused.

Apollo dragged him up again and pulled him along. The dragon looked confused.

"What's it doing?"

"Athena," Apollo replied, and indeed, Athena had gotten past Ator's defenses and thrown the cylindrical object at her. Her can of coke, Klavier realized. With all the heat and pressure, it had exploded violently when she'd opened it.

"Call it off!" they heard her shout. She got Ator in a headlock and forced her down.

"Don't think so." Ator turned and with one easy movement deposited Athena the ground. Athena scrambled out of the way, but now she was back on the defense.

"We've got to help her!"

"How?!" Apollo returned. The dragon roared. Ator had regained control.

"I must say," she shouted, "you three are quite a bit better than that woman was! But I'm sorry." And she whistled again. Athena took the opportunity and tried to tackle her, but Ator kicked her back as a second dragon appeared, this one snow white and sparkling like diamonds. "Meet Diamond Dragon."

"Crap." Apollo glanced from one dragon to the other.

"This is troublesome," Klavier agreed. And then the Diamond Dragon attacked. Its tail caught Apollo and sent him flying.

"Apollo!"

A blur of gold, and Chrysta appeared, pecking at the eyes of the huge dragon. Klavier ran to where Apollo had fallen just as the latter got up, wiping the blood of his chin.

"That's a loose tooth." He gave Klavier a pained grin. "Didn't think you actually knew my name."

"Your forehead is quite remarkable," Klavier managed through his relief. Apollo was still alive. For now. But now there were two dragons surrounding them, and Athena was badly outmatched. She was jumping away from Ator's sword, but her movements were slowing down.

"This isn't good, Klavier," Apollo said. Was this the first time Apollo had used his first name? What a crazy situation.

"We've got to get to Athena." His arm was throbbing now, the wounds stinging. And there were the two enormous dragons, surrounding them now. Chrysta flew down, in front of Apollo, but what could one bird do against two giant dragons?

"Give me your bag," Apollo said.

"What for?"

"Just do it!" They both jumped out of the way as the Diamond Dragon slammed its tail down between them. Klavier grabbed his bag with his uninjured arm and tossed it at Apollo, who barely caught it. He took out the bottle of wine Klavier'd had stacked away all this time.

"How solid is this glass?" he yelled.

"Hit it hard!" Klavier shouted back. The dragons, now realizing they could each target one of them, turned towards the noise. Klavier found himself faced with the Sapphire Dragon. Apollo raised the bottle of wine and dove under the Diamond Dragon, then jammed the top between its claws. It paused in confusion, flexed its claws, and broke the bottle, the shards embedding itself into its left paw. It shrieked in pain and swatted at Apollo, who barely dodged and landed next to Klavier.

"That didn't quite work the way I wanted it to."

"It was… inspired," Klavier said. He backed away from the Sapphire Dragon. The Diamond Dragon was picking at its paw, crying in pain. They were out of weapons, his left arm was completely useless, and the Diamond Dragon was angrier than ever.

"It was nice knowing you, Herr— Apollo," he murmured.

"Same, Klavier." Apollo grinned manically, holding up glass shards. "I could've had worse rivals."

And the dragons struck.

**March 10 2028 08:45 am**

**District Court - Prosecution's Lobby n°2**

"Edgeworth," Wright called, appearing in the door. Edgeworth gestured him in quickly. Good thing the lobby was deserted right now.

"Wright, we can't let her off just like that, you know that," he said. Wright closed his eyes.

"I know, I know, but we can't just let them die either. This is like Maya all over again." He hissed. "How am I ever going to explain this to Trucy?"

"Does she know?"

"No. She wanted to come today, but I managed to convince Maya to distract her and Pearls. They're at home watching the Pink Princess special, I believe."

At least that was a good choice of entertainment. "Drake's testifying today. If you can persuade her to not give the order…"

"She'll never do it. What about Ms. Sammons' portal technology?"

"It's vanished without a trace. We thought it'd be in the parking lot or at Paseo del Mar, but nothing." Edgeworth stared at the closed door of the courtroom. The bailiff held up a hand. Five minutes. By indicting Coral Drake, were they condemning three innocent people to death? Edgeworth looked down.

"We can only hope they manage to save themselves, Wright. Because I don't think we can save them anymore."

And Coral Drake's testimony wasn't making things any better. Ten minutes later, she'd taken the stand and given Wright a disappointed look. Then she'd shrugged and said, "So I guess it comes down to a trial after all."

The message was clear. Either they found her innocent or Klavier, Apollo and Athena wouldn't make it back alive. Was it so hard to have a simple, uncomplicated trial without kidnappings or murder threats every once in a while?

"Miss Coral Drake, you are accused of the murder of Ms. Cyan Sammons," he began. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

She would be denying it, and Wright would probably fumble the cross-examination, but how would it help if they got the truth out of her?

"I did it," Coral Drake said quietly.

"Yes, I— WHAT?"

"OBJECTION!" Wright shouted. The judge slammed his gavel.

"Miss Drake, are you… confessing?"

"Sorry, Mr. Wright, but I'm just tired of being here," Coral Drake said, still in the same soft tone. "So yes, I did it. I set up the portals that transported Cyan to the Desert World. Ator made sure she died."

"OBJECTION!" Wright shouted again. "Miss Drake, the bus driver has testified seeing you on his bus at the time of the murder. You weren't present to send Ms. Sammons to the Desert World!"

Miss Drake shrugged. She was toying with her bracelet again. "Did I have to be? I just needed her to be in that specific spot. Texted her after to say she didn't have to come. Made it look nice, didn't I?"

The judge blinked. "Miss Drake… Why confess now?"

"Because I'm tired of this thing. And because frankly, I'm sick of this whole world. Cyan's dead anyway. I could've used some pocket money, but you messed that up quite nicely for me. I already contacted Ator before this trial started, Mr. Wright. Your friends are long dead by now."

"I—" Wright slumped, head in his hands. "You can't—"

"Miss Drake," Edgeworth shouted through the chaos. "What are you trying to accomplish? You cannot escape a full courtroom after confessing!"

"No." Coral Drake looked up, her face utterly serene. "I will get out. Ator will save me."

**?? ??? ?? - ??:??**

**Desert World**

Apollo shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable pain to come. Maybe it'd be over soon. Maybe—

The pain where the dragon had hit his jaw increased. But other than that—

"Now would be a really good time to run, you two," a new voice said. Apollo opened his eyes to see the black panther from before holding off the dragons. And then, then it transformed. It grew in size and widened until it was an exact replica of the Diamond Dragon in front of them. They both stared in shock.

"Your friend could use some help," the panther-turned-dragon growled. That shook Apollo out of his trance.

"Athena!"

Athena was, surprisingly, still very much holding her own. She was panting and could barely dodge Ator's moves, but she was still in one piece and even appeared to be tiring out Ator herself.

"Not bad, Athena. You could've made a good warrior." Ator slashed her sword. Athena backflipped and tucked her legs in to turn her fall into a roll. "It really is a pity."

She took sight of the third dragon now battling the other two and her eyes widened. "Time to finish this before he gets here."

"I wouldn't do that, Ator," another voice said. A very familiar one. "It's Ator, right? Did I get that right?"

Judai Yuki stood behind Ator, Yubel right next to him. The latter spread her wings and took off towards them, landed next to Athena and picked her up.

"You," Ator growled. Mr. Yuki nodded.

"Me, yes. Black Panther, how're you holding up over there?" he shouted.

"Could use some help!" the panther-dragon replied. Mr. Yuki's eyes glowed, and the same white, humanoid monster he'd summoned two days ago appeared. Neos, or whatever its name was, charged at the Sapphire Dragon and threw it off Black Panther. A flash of light, and then Neos and Black Panther had disappeared, replaced by a larger, darker version of Neos covered with black armor and spreading dark, bat-like wings.

Ator straightened up. "Convenient that you're here. They're the reason my partner's in trouble, but I'm sure the universe will not mourn your death either."

Yubel picked Athena up and deposited her near Klavier and Apollo. They gaped at each other.

"Okay, still alive?" Athena whispered.

"Still alive. Bit worse for wear, but…" Apollo nodded at Ator. "We're not back home yet."

"Ator, stop this now," Mr. Yuki said. "You know you cannot stop me. You can bring all the dragons you want, attack me with everything you have, and you still can't harm me."

"So why don't you kill me like you killed everyone else, Supreme King?" Ator spat. Athena gasped.

" _He's_ the Supreme King?"

"Always was and always will be," Yubel said. "But he dislikes the title."

"I don't do that anymore, Ator," Mr. Yuki continued. "And I'm sorry. I don't know who you lost, but I was responsible for it and I'm truly sorry." He straightened up and took a step forward. He was just a man in his late thirties. He had no weapons, no one protecting him, and he shouldn't have looked nearly as intimidating as he did at that moment. "But if you keep threatening the kids, I will be forced to act. I got them into this mess and it is my duty to bring them home safely."

Apollo gasped. That had not been a lie. "He means it."

"Then you will die, Supreme King!" Ator said. "And the world will be happier for it!"

She charged, and Yubel took off. Before Ator had even gotten near Mr. Yuki, she'd grabbed the woman by the throat and lifted her.

"You do not threaten my Judai, is that clear?"

Ator tried to stab her. Yubel deflected the move easily.

"Your beloved Judai. You're blind to the damage he's caused all of us."

"No, I am not." Yubel threw her down and grabbed the sword. "I was as responsible as he was, but that is in the past, and Judai has been trying his best for years to make amends for it. Whereas you, you're just killing innocent people."

"And it makes you no better than me," Mr. Yuki said softly. He joined Yubel. "This fight is over, Ator. You've lost control of your dragons. Help me get the kids home and I promise you that your partner will get a fair trial."

But Ator wasn't giving up. "Coral deserves so much better than some prison cell. She's a genius and your world never, ever appreciated her or her family! I will get her the recognition she deserves. If it means you have to die for her, then so be it."

"Ah, I see." Mr. Yuki whispered. And then he was behind her in a flash, surrounded by darkness whirling all around them, obscuring the two of them from view. The dark cleared, and Ator was on the ground, hands bound by what looked like solid darkness.

Mr. Yuki closed his eyes for a brief second. "There's a portal opening soon, isn't there? When?"

"I am not letting you get to Coral."

"Then we'll wait." Mr. Yuki turned around and walked up to them. "I'm sorry for being so late. How are you?" He caught sight of Klavier's arm and paled.

"Put pressure on it or you'll lose too much blood," he snapped, already going through his backpack. "Why didn't you say so earlier? Lie down."

"Ah, Herr Yuki, it's not bleeding too—"

"It's still bleeding, isn't it? You two, help him lie down."

Klavier managed to lie down with some help from Apollo. Mr. Yuki had found his first aid kit and grabbed a pressure bandage. Klavier tried to lift his sleeve.

"Leave it. The more pressure, the better. We have to stop the bleeding. Why are these cuts so wide?"

"I will try to choose a smaller dragon next time, Herr Yuki," Klavier said. With the fight over, he looked distinctly pale underneath his tan. Mr. Yuki applied the bandage, grabbed another roll of gauze to put on top of it, and started winding it around his arm.

"Too tight?"

"No, it's fine, Herr Yuki."

Mr. Yuki finished securing the bandage and glanced at Ator. Athena shook her head.

"But what I don't get," she asked Ator, "you were really going to help us. I could hear. So why this?"

"Because it's her partner, Athena," Yubel said. "Because there is nothing I would not do for Judai and he for me."

"Coral deserves better."

Judai nodded. "Does she love you back?"

"Yes."

"Good, that's good…" Mr. Yuki said. He looked at Yubel, who smiled down at him. Apollo looked away. This was it, right? It was over now. They could go home. They could all—

He jumped up. Where was she?

"Apollo?" Athena asked. Klavier got up, but Mr. Yuki ushered him down again.

"Chrysta, has anyone seen Chrysta?"

She'd attacked the dragons to save them, but after that— Where had she gone? The dragons had already disappeared, no longer interested in a fight now that Ator was not controlling them anymore. She had to be there somewhere.

"Chrysta!"

A faint squeak. Apollo dropped down on his knees. There she was, half-buried under the sand, her right wing bent at an unnatural angle. Apollo quickly dug her out and scooped her up.

"Chrysta, you okay?"

The eagle only squeaked tiredly and buried her head in her feathers.

"She's not doing well," Mr. Yuki said. When he'd appeared, Apollo didn't know. "I'm sorry, Apollo."

"It's just her wing, right? We can splint it." He didn't know how to do it, but Mr. Yuki looked like he had enough first aid experience. "It's just some broken bones."

Chrysta squeaked again. Her broken wing hung uselessly over Apollo's arm.

"She went up against a monster that was far stronger than her. It's a wonder she made it this far. Come on."

He helped Apollo up and led him back to Athena and Klavier. Athena wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Can't you do something?" she asked. "You have all those tricks, all those powers, there has to be something—"

Mr. Yuki shook his head. "I can't heal. I guess that's my curse. I can destroy, and change, and every once in a while I can even save, but I can't heal. I am so sorry."

Apollo hugged the bird tighter, mindful of her bad wing. If she hadn't found him, she wouldn't be like this. If she'd just left them when she'd had the chance, she would've been fine.

"Not your fault," Klavier said. He didn't look good. If they could only get out of here somehow, find help for Chrysta and Klavier…

Five minutes before the portal opened, Chrysta looked up, nuzzled her head against his chest, and disappeared in a shower of light.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so we reach the end! I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

 

**March 10 2028 09:17 am**

**District Court - Courtroom n°2**

"Bailiff, please arrest Miss Coral Drake for the murder of Ms. Cyan Sammons," the judge announced. Phoenix wasn't even paying attention anymore. They'd lost Apollo and Athena. They'd been his responsibility, and he hadn't been able to take care of them.

"You will be held at the detention center where you will await trial, Miss Drake. I do believe the Prosecutor's office will also charge you with the disappearances of Prosecutor Gavin, Mr. Justice, and Miss Cykes."

"Deaths," Coral Drake corrected placidly. Phoenix placed his hands on the table.

"How can you do this? How can you be so calm about this?"

"Because they mean nothing to me, Mr. Wright. Only to you." Coral Drake smiled even as the bailiff came to guide her away from the witness stand. "How many trials have you not conducted in complete calm, because the victim meant nothing to you? And you, Mr. Edgeworth?"

Edgeworth looked stricken. Coral Drake smiled and shook off the bailiff, instead descending from the witness stand by herself. "But as I said, you cannot keep me. Ator will come for me." She checked the bracelet around her arm. "Right now, in fact."

The air in the middle of the courtroom started to shimmer, as if distorted by an invisible lens. Phoenix suddenly had a very good idea of where Ms. Sammons' missing portal technology had gone. Had Coral Drake planned this all along? Had she set it up yesterday, when she was testifying in court? Coral Drake walked forward even as the judge slammed his gavel.

"Everyone, please exit the courtroom calmly and quietly. Bailiff, stop Miss Drake!"

The ensuing evacuation was neither calm nor quiet. Phoenix rounded the bench —if he could only stop Coral Drake from entering the portal, if they could at least prosecute her, but Coral Drake was already entering the portal and the bailiff looked too scared to go after her.

"I really wouldn't do that, Miss Coral," said Athena.

Phoenix skidded to a halt. On the other side of the courtroom, Edgeworth rounded the prosecution's bench. And Coral Drake stopped, stupefied.

"You—"

Athena exited the portal, her hair in disarray and her clothes torn in places, but very much alive. Behind her stood Apollo, his face bruised and smeared with dried blood, and his eyes burning with a cold fury Phoenix had last seen when he'd accused Athena of murdering Clay Terran. Now all his anger was aimed at Coral Drake. He was supporting Prosecutor Gavin, who was bleeding through the bandages around his left arm.

"Miss Cykes?" The judge blinked. "Bailiff, call an ambulance right away! They need medical care!"

The bailiff only seemed too happy to oblige. Phoenix wanted to rush forward, but he could barely feel his legs. They were alive. They were all still alive and they'd made it home.

Coral Drake shrieked. "Ator! What did you do to Ator, you little—"

"Oh, she's alive," Apollo said, voice icy. "Unlike some of us. You tried to kill us, Miss Coral. Just because you wanted some money and some recognition and thought you were better than the rest of us. You almost succeeded." His grip on Prosecutor Gavin tightened. The Prosecutor looked on the verge of passing out.

"Not that bad, Herr Forehead," he still managed.

"Where is she!?" Coral Drake shouted. She rushed at Apollo, but Athena got there first and grabbed her arm, twisting it around and forcing her on her knees. Phoenix finally regained feeling in his legs again and rushed forward.

"Athena! Are you all right?"

Athena nodded. Edgeworth stepped forward to take Prosecutor Gavin from Apollo.

"Where is Ator!?" repeated Coral Drake. Athena snorted dispassionately.

"Right over here," Mr. Yuki said. Phoenix had practically forgotten about him in his rush to make sure the others were okay. He was dragging along a red-headed woman who had to be Ator, and was accompanied by a winged, hermaphroditic-looking spirit with eyes of two different colors. Coral tried to shake off Athena. Phoenix quickly grabbed her shoulders and forced her down.

"Bailiff!" Edgeworth shouted. The bailiff finally moved forward and took Coral Drake from Athena and Phoenix. Phoenix turned around and hugged Athena tightly.

"You okay?" he whispered, looking her over. She had looked better, that was for sure, but she was still in one piece.

Athena smiled. "I would kill for a shower right now."

"I'm so sorry, Coral," the woman named Ator said. Her eyes were downcast. "I couldn't— He's the Supreme King."

"You," Coral Drake growled even if she was being dragged off. Ator tried to move after her, but the massive winged spirit forced her back into the portal.

"Don't even think about it," it said. Mr. Yuki, whose eyes were glowing the same orange-teal as the monster's, addressed the judge.

"Your honor, permission to take this spirit back to the spirit world. Your prison cells will not be able to hold her and being separated from her partner will be a far worse punishment."

The judge frowned. "This is highly unconventional, Mr. Yuki. You say she was involved in the crime?"

"She killed Ms. Sammons and tried to have the three kids killed," said. "Unfortunately, spirits won't remain tangible in this world. You cannot hold her in an earth prison."

Ator watched after a sobbing Coral Drake, who was being handcuffed and escorted away. "I will find you, Coral!" she shouted. The judge shook his head.

"I don't like the idea of a culprit running free, Mr. Yuki."

"I will see her brought to justice, your honor."

"In that case…" the judge nodded. "She does not fall under my jurisdiction. I will trust your judgment, Mr. Yuki."

Mr. Yuki nodded and stepped back into the portal. "Athena, Apollo, Klavier," he said. The three of them looked up. "I am sorry for dragging you into this. I never intended for it to happen."

"I guess you came through in the end," Athena said. Apollo didn't say anything. He was standing in the middle of the courtroom, staring straight ahead.

"Apollo, I'm sorry." He and the monster turned around. "You'll see me again, I'm pretty sure." He grinned. "Tell Maya I said hi and that I'm sorry I can't stay to chat."

He dragged Ator back into the portal with him and disappeared together with the massive monster. There was a high, whistling noise that had Athena covering her ears, then a flash of light and the portal disappeared. Silence fell over the courtroom, only broken when the sound of nearby sirens echoed through the place.

"The ambulance is here," Edgeworth said. Prosecutor Gavin tried to get up, but hissed in pain. It shook Apollo out of his trance, and he and Athena hurried over to him. Phoenix could only look at their disheveled forms. They were back, they were home, but what had they gone through?

"That was… most certainly eventful," the judge said. "Mr. Justice, Miss Cykes, Prosecutor Gavin, how are you feeling?"

"Been better, been worse, Herr Judge," Prosecutor Gavin said. Apollo glared at him.

"You had a dragon almost tear your arm off, you idiot. What could have been worse?"

Prosecutor Gavin smiled faintly. "Ah, there was that one time after our anniversary concert—"

The judge banged his gavel. "The emergency personnel will be here any minute. But in the meantime, I feel it is safe to declare that, in the case of the murder on Ms. Cyan Sammons, the defendant, Mrs. Longxin Huang, is not guilty."

**March 10 2028 12:14 pm**

**Hickfield Clinic**

"Athena!" Trucy shouted when she entered the room with Daddy. Athena grinned.

"Hey Trucy. Good to see you again."

"Oh gosh, I was so worried, and then Mystic Maya wouldn't let me and Pearls come to court today and I thought you and Polly were dead…" Trucy's eyes were burning. She'd really thought she'd never see them again.

"Cykes-dono, I will take my leave."

Trucy gasped. She'd been so worried about seeing Athena that she'd missed Prosecutor Blackquill. Daddy looked a bit pale all of a sudden.

"Aww, Simon, you don't have to go! You only just got here!"

"I will leave you with your guests," Prosecutor Blackquill said. "If I could have a word with you first, Wright-dono?"

Daddy's face was starting to look like the one bottle of milk in the fridge they'd forgotten to throw away. Athena bit her lip.

"Simon, before you go, could you talk to Apollo for a bit?" she asked. Prosecutor Blackquill, already halfway out of the door, paused.

"Justice-dono?" he asked.

"It's about a bird," Athena said.

Prosecutor Blackquill nodded and stroked Taka over the head. "Wright-dono, if you please?"

Daddy squared his shoulders and followed Prosecutor Blackquill outside. Trucy glanced at Athena and bit her lip. She seemed so drawn. Her face was pale under the sunburn. Athena caught her looking and smiled.

"We're fine, don't worry." She lifted her arm and showed the IV line stuck in her wrist. "Just a bit dehydrated, apparently. They still haven't let me shower, can you believe it?"

Daddy entered the room again and closed the door softly. "Prosecutor Gavin needed to have stitches for his arm, and they're checking his blood for anything dangerous, but he should be fine," he said. Athena let out a relieved sigh.

"How's Apollo?" she asked. "They wouldn't let us share a room."

"He didn't really want to talk to us," Trucy said. She bit her lip. Daddy looked sad.

"He seemed… cold in court today. Did something happen to him?" he asked. Athena looked down, hands fisting in the hospital sheets.

"It's not really my story to tell, but I guess… He made a friend out of one of the spirits in that world. She died trying to protect him."

Oh, poor Polly… "We should go visit him again, Daddy," she said. Daddy looked conflicted.

"I think he needs some rest now," Athena said. "But can we go to the cafeteria? The food here is awful and they may have managed to chain me to this IV thing, but they haven't chained me to bed yet."

"You should be resting too," Daddy said. Athena laughed.

"Oh, come on, I need food! I kept having to look out for Apollo and Klavier. They wouldn't have gotten anywhere without me, you know?"

Daddy averted his eyes and Trucy looked down. What if Polly and Prosecutor Gavin hadn't made it back? She'd been so sure she'd never see them again.

Athena laughed nervously. "Ah, but come on, let's go." She swung her legs out of bed and winced a bit when her feet hit the cold tiles. "Neither of you would happen to have socks with you?"

"Just a second!" Trucy took off her hat and showed it to Daddy and Athena. "See, nothing inside, right?"

"Right, Truce," Daddy said.

"Okay!" she turned the hat around and threw it up in the air. "Aaaand one, two three!"

She fished out a pair of socks triumphantly and handed them to Athena. Daddy applauded.

"New trick, honey?"

"Nah, you just haven't seen this one yet, Daddy." Trucy put her hat back on and Athena tugged on her brand new socks.

"Much better," she said. "Thanks, Trucy."

They left the room together. They'd just turned the corner of the hallway when they bumped into another familiar face—Mrs. Huang.

"Miss Cykes!" she said. "I was just about to come visit you! How are you doing?"

"Very well, Mrs. Huang," Athena said. "I'm glad to see you out and about again."

"Oh, it was never an issue," Mrs. Huang said. "Chairman Pegasus knew where I was when Cyan was killed."

Daddy nodded. "I see… Wait, what?" He pointed an accusing finger at Mrs. Huang. "You mean you had an alibi all this time?"

"You did?!" Athena asked. "But why didn't you tell us?"

Mrs. Huang was unfazed by the accusations. "When the news broke that Cyan had been found dead, Chairman Pegasus and I were in a conference call with Kaiba Mokuba and had been for most of the night. Kaiba Corporation is tough to negotiate with." She smiled. "But we knew that the person who'd killed Cyan was also the one who'd been leaking secrets. So we decided I'd be arrested for the murder, so we could find the real culprit." She smiled at Athena. "I never doubted you and Mr. Justice for a second, Miss Cykes. Though I regret the situation you ended up in."

Daddy and Athena looked utterly gobsmacked. Trucy giggled. That was a pretty great trick.

"Did you suspect Miss Drake?" Athena asked.

"She was on our suspect list, I will admit. I had hoped it wasn't her, though." Mrs. Sammons shifted from foot to foot. "Truth is, Coral and I are related to each other. Very distant relatives, to be true, but we share a common ancestor several centuries back, before her family came to the United States. My side of the family kept the reputation of dealing with dragons. Her side was the one that actually had the spiritual power to do so. If anyone could do it, it was Coral. I still don't really get what drove her, though."

"She… Ator said she felt underappreciated. Said her family had been laughed away for seeing spirits all this time. Ms. Sammons' technology could prove their existence to the world. And since the Drake family is one of the few that can communicate with them…" Athena said.

"It would've been great for military purposes. A portal they could send their enemies through, only to be killed for them. It'd have made her rich, no doubt." Mrs. Huang sighed. "Poor Cyan, having to die for that."

"That's… a bit sad," Trucy said. Seeing spirits sounded so awesome, so why would Miss Drake use it just to get some more money? Some people really were greedy.

"What about your daughter?" Daddy asked. "And the money?"

"Xiaoyan is doing fine now, thanks to Chairman Pegasus," Mrs. Huang said. "But it was an ill-kept secret that our family needed the money. The chairman and I suspected that our culprit would be aware of that too, so that became my motive for the crime."

"So all this time you were the ones setting us up." Daddy sighed. "I think I liked playing piano better."

"We still need to pay this month's rent, Daddy!" Trucy reminded him. Mrs Huang laughed.

"Chairman Pegasus will be sending you the check next week. We are very grateful to you," Mrs. Huang said. "It was great seeing you again, Miss Cykes. I do wish you the best in your further career. You too, Mr. Wright."

"Good day, Mrs. Huang," Daddy said. He and Athena watched her as she walked off. Athena shook her head.

"One day I wish our clients would tell us everything before the trial started," she said. Daddy laughed.

"I still wish for that every day, Athena. Come on, let's go save you from hospital food."

**March 15 2028 11:23 am**

**Wright Anything Agency**

Apollo groaned as he took in the pile of assorted paperwork. Mr. Wright had wanted him and Athena to take off longer than a few days, but he'd been far too bored in his little apartment to stay away from work. Now he was starting to regret that decision. Even though he and Athena had only been the defense on the Sammons case for one day, the paperwork had still managed to find them. And 'them', of course, meant him, because Athena had, in her words, deferred to his superior experience and left all the administration to him.

He grinned. He couldn't say he wasn't grateful to be kept busy. Being back home was great, but he still had dreams about the Desert World and he missed Chrysta more than he thought possible. He'd only known the bird for two days at most and she'd attacked him when they'd first met. He rubbed his face and winced. The bruises he'd earned himself in the desert world still hadn't faded away entirely.

Klavier, at least, was recovering nicely. They'd even let him out of the hospital yesterday with the stern warning to not do anything strenuous and come back if the dragon wounds so much as thought about getting infected. He'd shrugged it off and had then been admonished for doing so by both Athena and Apollo himself.

"Polly, mail!" Trucy shouted, bounding into the office. He took the stack of mail from her and immediately put the top few letters aside - he'd do a lot for Mr. Wright, but he wasn't about to pay his bills for him yet. There were a couple of letters for him, mostly administrative business, and then, near the bottom of the stack, two letters without a stamp on either of them. One had 'Athena' written on it in sloppy handwriting, the other 'Apollo'. Apollo carefully put Athena's letter aside and opened his own. Inside was a handwritten letter.

"Who's it from?" Trucy asked, leaning over his shoulder to get a better look at the letter's contents. Apollo shook his head.

"Dunno. Let me read."

_Apollo,_

_I'm sending this letter to Klavier and Athena too. I hope you're all doing okay. Once again, I'm sorry for getting you in trouble, and I hope that one day you'll be able to forgive me._

_I have made a lot of mistakes in the past - if you knew the full extent of them, you'd probably think even worse of me. Still, I'm hoping to make up for it somehow. Yubel and me have taken Ator back to the Desert World. She'll stand trial there, though I don't know how seriously they'll take it since it was only humans who got hurt. I don't think I can keep her away from Coral forever, but Yubel destroyed that bracelet she had, so it'll take her a bit. You'd better do the same with Coral's bracelet too. Whatever she is, she's not stupid. She'll probably find a way to use it._

Apollo grinned. Coral Drake's bracelet had already been confiscated and was now being studied by Industrial Illusions.

_One more thing, Apollo. I'm very sorry about Chrysta as well. I haven't yet personally experienced the pain of losing a partner, and I know that what I'm about to say won't make up for it. But there's a card in this envelope. It belongs to a little gal who's lost in the world, so I hope you'll be able to help her._

_Until we meet again,_

_Yuki Judai and Yubel_

_P.S. Black Panther says hi. He says you need to practice on running faster._

Apollo grabbed the envelope and turned it upside-down. A card fell out, one of the Duel Monsters cards that had driven the case.

"Eagle Eye?" Trucy read over his shoulder. The picture on the card… It wasn't Chrysta, but it was definitely the monster Chrysta was supposed to be. The eagle in the picture had the same golden head covering Chrysta had had.

Something squeaked.

"Apollo, is that a bird?" Trucy whispered. And indeed, there was a bird hovering over the two of them. Not Chrysta—This bird was far smaller than Chrysta had been, with feathers just a shade darker, interspersed with the downy feathers of a chick that had only just learned to fly.

"Hello there," Apollo whispered. The eagle sized him up warily. "Did he put you in an envelope? That's not very nice."

The bird landed on Apollo's desk and primped her feathers. Trucy eyed her with fascination. He sometimes forgot her vision was as good as his.

"Does that mean I can see spirits now like Mr. Judai, Polly? Wait, can you?" she asked loudly. The bird, shocked by her sudden outburst, hid behind Apollo's stack of paperwork.

"Yes and yes," Apollo said. He put the Duel Monsters card down and held out a hand to the bird. Carefully, the little bird emerged from behind the stack of papers again and pecked at his hand experimentally. Apollo laughed.

"You know what? I think we'll get along just fine."

**Author's Note:**

> For reference:
> 
> Sapphire Dragon: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Luster_Dragon  
> Diamond Dragon: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Hyozanryu


End file.
